


Binding Love

by calibluebell



Category: Haikyuu!!, haikyuu
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Slow Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:55:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 29,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23904229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calibluebell/pseuds/calibluebell
Summary: Miya Atsumu/ReaderYou are Aoyama Yua, your life has been nothing but a ride and it will continue to be so even in Japan. Your definition of love, life, and family will be challenged by the Miya brothers and Inarizaki High. Your experiences will take you far and your determination to overcome your boundaries will take you even farther than you've ever imagined.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Reader
Comments: 19
Kudos: 62





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heya, this is my first work so it's going to be a long ride for both you and me. My name is Cali, nice to meet everyone. I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions! Love you all lots and let's have fun together!

“Baby, love is a child’s dream.”

“But mommy, why? Don’t you love me?”

“Of course I love you. You’re the only one I’ll ever love, Yua. I thought you would mend mine and daddy’s relationship but…”

“It’s okay Mommy. I won’t fall in love. I’ll stay with you forever.”

You remember the promise you made to your mother. You think about how foolish it was now that you have him in your life.

“I’m sorry Mommy. I don’t think I can keep that promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! Cali here! Super short prologue, keeping it short and sweet. We gonna get into the heavy duty stuff in the next few chapters.


	2. Aoyama Yua

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haha here we goo

_10 YEARS AGO_

_Yua_. A strange name to have in America, in your opinion. It is easy to pronounce so you’re grateful about that. But the fact that every kid in existence asks about what Yua means ticks you off a bit.

“Yua, what does Yua mean?” Chris smirks at you.

“I don’t know Chris. What does Chris even mean?” You sneer back to the blonde haired kid that is staring at you from across the table, waiting for you to screw up so he can tease you more.

Instead he bursts into a bright red hue with a bewildered look on his face. His arm shoots up in the air and lets out a cry. “TEACHER!!! YUA SAID MY NAME IS STUPID!!”

You look at him in disbelief. But you say nothing.

“Yua? Did you do that?” Ms. Keener asks you with a raised eyebrow, clearly suspecting you of doing such an audacious act. Not like a first grader like you should know what the word audacious means.

“No, ma’am.” You meet her eyes with honesty.

“I’m deducting points off of conduct for today over this matter on your planners.” She looks at you indifferently. She then deadpans over to Chris. “Both of you.”

Chris spends the rest of the day sulking, saying how this is the 4th deduction point for the day. He is typically a noisy kid, loves to tease, disturb, and be a class clown. He mumbles something about how this is all your fault before the bell rings for dismissal. He shoves all of his folders into his spiderman backpack and runs towards the classroom door. Not before he turns around and gives you a nasty look and the pinky finger. He didn’t want to get in trouble for giving you the middle finger.

You return his nasty look along with the middle finger after checking to see if Ms. Keener was looking. A few of your classmates saw the exchange and started snickering a bit. You hurry and pack your bag before running out too before Ms. Keener asks them what’s funny.

You head outside and stand in front of the school and wait for your mom to pick you up. It was 90F outside today and being a first grader, you don’t handle the heat well. Your mom’s car pulls up, the same shiny, black, BMW that picks you up everyday afterschool. Your dad is sitting in the passenger seat. He rolls down the window and spots you standing near the entrance behind all the other kids.

“Yua!! Papa is here!!” He yells loudly, causing all the other kids to turn around and search for this “Yua” person.

You blush in embarrassment and head towards the car. You hop into the back and shut the door behind you. Your parents look back at you in adoration. The rest of the car ride home was loud, mostly them talking about how precious and adorable their daughter was. And how much they missed you while you were at school.

When you pull up into the driveway, your dad grabs your backpack for you and you head out with your hand in momma’s, following her into the house. She sits you down at the dinner table, handing you a plate of curry rice. She gives your dad a smaller plate, laughing when he voices his opposition about why you got a bigger portion than he did.

“You can always ask for seconds, honey.” She smiles warmly and gives him a peck on the cheek.

Your mother then sits down and pulls out your planner to sign it. As she does every night at dinner before asking you how your day in elementary school went. Her eyebrows slightly arch up when she sees your B for conduct.

“Yua?” She looks up at you from the planner. “What happened today?”

She wasn’t angry, just curious. Your parents don’t get angry at you. For anything. Ever.

“Chris asked me what my name meant.” You said through a mouthful of curry rice.

“Manners. Yua, don’t chew with your mouth full, baby.” Your dad takes a napkin and wipes off some rice stuck around your mouth.

“Sorry, Papa.” You finish chewing and swallowing your food. “Chris asked me what my name meant. And I didn’t like the way he asked because he was trying to make me....”

“Make you what?” Your mom asks.

You look down at your plate, gripping your spoon harder than usual. “Make me look stupid. Because he thinks my name is stupid. Because it's not…American.”

Your mom and dad looked at each other for a second. The sudden quiet making it unbearable for you because you didn’t think your name was special either. Heck, they probably just named you on a whim. Your name meant nothing, you meant nothing. You were scared of their answer.

“I wish I was back in Japan!” You shout, eyes starting to fill with tears.

They burst out into laughter, taking you by surprise. You eye them angrily asking what’s funny. Your mother, nearly in tears at this point, laughs out, “Oh baby, your name will mean so much more than Chris or some boring name like Jessica or Christy.”

“That’s right, honey.” Your dad chimes in. “Yua is a very special name with a very special meaning behind it.”

You look at your parents, tilting your head to one side, urging them to continue.

“Yua means, binding love.” Your mother gives you one of her trademark smiles. “You are the proof of your papa and mommy’s love.”

Your eyes shone brightly as you slowly began to understand what your mother said. You didn’t realize that what you said shortly before your parents’ outburst of laughter would be heard by the Gods up above. But it was. And your wish was granted.

_THE PRESENT_

Those were such good memories. You wish times like those would have continued forever, however things have changed. You are no longer in California. You no longer live with a man named papa. You don’t have to deal with annoying kids named Chris. And you certainly have no recent fond memories about the word love.

“Yua. Mommy is going to go see Satoru-san for a bit.” Your mom looks at you. She has aged 10 years. Still beautiful, but aged. Wrinkles are starting to form on her forehead, around her eyes and mouth. But the greatest change is that she doesn’t call your dad honey anymore. It’s just Satoru-san now.

“Ok, Mom.” You smiled softly at her. “Tell him I said hi. Come home soon, be safe.”

“Alright.” Your mom returns your smile. Her trademark smile has worn off considerably. You hope it’ll return one day. “Don’t be late to school. It’s your first day.”

_Inarizaki High. Japan can’t be this different from California...right?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was ok I really wrote this in 30 minutes so excuse any grammatical errors or what not I have made, also any holes in the story is due to my incompetence haha.


	3. The Queen Arrives: Hamasaki Tsubaki

Inarizaki High. Hyogo Prefecture. Japanese cities and prefectures and such are still a foreign concept to you despite being born there. You did move to America after preschool afterall. It’s been a while since you’ve been back. 10 years or so? You don’t ponder long on the thought. You just know that starting school in April is weird. It wasn’t this chilly back in California…

_ Ah. I miss California.  _ At least you didn’t have to walk to school back in the US. 

You turn the corner, eyes glued onto your phone’s GPS. You had no idea what the hell you were looking at because you’re guesstimating what the Japanese characters on the words are saying. Luckily you have google translate on your side. 

“Ah shit.” You blurt out in english as you bumped into someone. “So-” you remembered that you have to speak japanese now instead of english.  _ Shit. _

“Sorry.” You switch to japanese. The person you bumped into turns around, putting a hand on his head. 

“It’s cool.” He says. You expected an average height person, around 5’7”? 5’8”? Nope. You looked up at his face.  _ What the hell, he’s tall as f- Oh wait. He kind of looks familiar.  _

You dig through your memories of your time in Japan before moving to America. Festivals. Starry Hill. Candied apples. Twins. Miya. The realization hits you like a truck. You turn wide eyed, stuck with awe. Your childhood friends, the only people you considered friends, were now grown up and standing in front of you. 

“Miya-san?” You say cautiously. Even though you knew twins were not common and you couldn’t have been mistaken, you don’t want to look like a fool for mislabeling someone with your childhood friends’ name.

“Yes? Do I know you?” The blonde haired twin looks at you curiously, smirking. 

You stare at him quietly. The world around you seemed to stop. Petals of cherry blossoms float through the air, gently, beckoning a new beginning. The breeze ushers cool air through your body, you brush a few strands back behind your ear. The boy in front of you, your old friend, has grown into someone almost unrecognizable. His eyes, his mischievous smile, the cool air around him envelops your senses and you’re sucked into his presence. 

“Yua-san, right?” The other twin speaks up. The first time he said anything during the entire interaction. He looks at you with the same look as the blonde haired twin, except calmer, more mature, even.

“Yes.” You smile brightly back at them. This was so nostalgic you could cry. 

“Ah! You’re the neighborhood kid who we thought was a boy right?” The blonde haired twin exclaims. Looking at his twin. “We always called you Aoyama instead of Yua.”

The silver haired twin nods in agreement. 

You notice their uniform was similar to yours. “Are you guys going to Inarizaki too?” 

“Yep! Wanna walk with us?” The blonde haired twin asks, putting his hands in his pockets and begins walking backwards, keeping his eyes on you. Afterall, its been years since he last saw you. He wanted to observe you for as long as he could. 

“Sure.” You chuckled in agreement and walked in between the both of them. 

The rest of the walk was filled with reminiscing, laughter, and butterflies in stomach feelings for the three of you as the memories started flooding back. As if there was a dam holding it back before. 

“So…” The blonde haired twin glances down at you. You start to think you look like a snail to him because of the height difference.  _ My aerial view is probably hideous. _ “Can you tell which one is Atsumu and which one is Osamu? Or are you just going to torture us with the ‘Miya-san’ name forever?”

You guys have arrived at the gates of the school and are now discussing identities. You look at the both of them carefully.  _ It’s a 50/50 chance, I can always blame my blunders on my forgetfulness or whatever. _

“You’re Atsumu,” you point at the blonde haired twin. “And you’re Osamu.” You point at the silver haired twin. 

The two exchange glances before asking you how you could tell. You reply with a shrug. “Lucky guess?” 

“You’re right!” Atsumu pats you on the head. “She’s impressive for not having seen us for 10 years.” 

“Or just lucky.” Osamu smiles gently at you. 

You smile to yourself, thinking how grateful you are that your friends haven't changed much since you've last seen them. Still well mannered and kind. 

The three of you head into the building to look at the roster for freshmans and head to class. You split off from the twins somewhere along the way because they said they would go look for the volleyball team recruiters. You didn’t know they got into volleyball while you were gone. You head to class by yourself. Japanese buildings are a lot older than the buildings in America. It was strange, kind of traditional. Strange but not unpleasant. 

As you walk through the hallways, you feel the gaze of all the kids around you. Maybe you’re exuding some sort of American air. Most likely not. It’s probably because you were 5’6” and towering above a good number of girls walking in the hallways. You arrive at Class 1-2, your classroom for the next few months of your life. You open the door. Students gather at each other’s desks, laughing and giggling at their jokes, some students are seated at their desks with their headphones on, drowning out the rest of the noise. 

“Hi!” You jump a little. You turn around and find a stunning girl smiling at you warmly. “Are you new? I’ve never seen you before.”

_ Of course not.  _ You think.  _ I’m not from here. _

“Ah, yes I’m new.” You extend your hand, a common gesture in America. “My name is Yua Aoyama.” 

“Yua is a strange surname,” the girl in front of you giggles but takes your hand anyways. 

“Oh!” You realize that surnames go first in Japan. You blush a little. “I meant Aoyama Yua. My first name is Yua.” 

“Nice to meet you,” the girl starts walking and you follow her. “My name is Hamasaki Tsubaki.”

“That’s a pretty name.” You complimented her. 

You and Tsubaki talk for a bit before the homeroom teacher arrives in the classroom. You felt the eyes that looked in your direction, but realized that they weren’t looking at you, but at Tsubaki. They probably admired her beauty, just as you had. You pay no mind to it as you take the seat next to hers, not really sure if there were assigned seats or you just sit wherever. You whisper to Tsubaki your concerns. She motions to just sit down. From the corner of your eye, you see Atsumu slither his way into the classroom and into a seat in the back near the door. You glance in his direction and give him a small smile, acknowledging his presence. 

_ At least there’s two people I’m comfortable with now. Thank god.  _

You don’t notice Tsubaki looking in the same direction as you. Except that her eyes looking at Atsumu were much different from yours.


	4. False Hopes: "He'll come"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back at it again with another chapter! Enjoy my spontaneous writes!

The homeroom teacher begins class, gives everyone a run down of how high school is going to work and how he expects work to be done. Nothing too different than America. The thing that you found most strange was that you never had to leave your classrooms, the teachers rotate instead. The classroom explodes into laughter and rowdy mess as soon as the teacher leaves the room. There is a 10 minute break before the next class begins. 

Atsumu walts over to your desk and places his behind on it. “So Miss Yua,” he says in English with a terrible accent. “How do you like Japan?” 

“WOAH!!!” The rest of the class explodes. They were watching him. One, because he’s tall. Two, because all the girls are visibly drooling. And three, the two most attractive people, in the whole school probably, are standing next to each other. But their attention was grabbed when Atsumu hinted at the fact that you were not from Japan.

A flurry of questions bombarded your ears. Where are you from? Can you speak Japanese well? You’re really tall! How tall are you? Questions like that. 

You answer them one by one, as well as you can. “California in America, yes I can, I’m 5’7’” 

They looked at each other, not sure what 5’7” means. You do the mental calculation and tell them it's somewhere around 170cm. They exploded into another fit of awe and surprise. You don’t notice Tsubaki’s unimpressed face as everyone’s attention was on you. 

“Alrighty everyone,” Tsubaki gives everyone her trademark smile. “You’re bothering the new girl a little too much! Let her breathe!” She gives you a hug and makes a pouty face at everyone surrounding your desk. 

Everyone begins talking to you and you tell them stories about America, since they seemed so excited about it. Tsubaki and Atsumu listen quietly from the side, showing expressions of awe and confusion at certain stories. Stories like how students walk to different classrooms. Or how California doesn’t have trains and that everyone drives in a car instead. They also loved listening about how your first time driving a car went. There were plenty more stories, but the next teacher walked in. 

The rest of the day went by smoothly. At the end of the day as you’re packing up, Tsubaki asks you where you live. You replied you live at 31 XXX street. She pouts slightly saying how she wanted to walk home with you but you live in the opposite direction of her. She tells you that she’ll see you tomorrow and heads out. 

“Aoyama-san, are you cleaning up today?” One of your classmates called out. 

“Uhh, I don’t think so?” You are genuinely confused by his question. 

“She’s on cleaning duty for Friday, Akira,” Atsumu replied. “Let the girl go home in peace, man.”

Akira laughs nervously in response before continuing his clean up. 

“Don’t worry about him,” Atsumu walks over to your desk to help you put folders in your bag. “He loves dumping cleaning duties on new kids.” 

“Oh.” You responded, not really sure what to say. “We don’t really have cleaning duties in America so I wasn’t really sure what he meant. I wouldn’t have known what to do anyways.” 

“You just clean the board and dump out the trash. Line up the desks-ish.” Atusmu didn’t really look like the type to clean up either. “I’m getting tired and hungry, I wanna go home.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Osamu?” You raised an eyebrow at him as you picked up your bag. 

“Nah I think he went first already.” Atsumu sighed. “Shitty ‘Samu is like that.” 

You can’t help but laugh out loud. The way he talked about his brother was hilarious, authentic, and so American. You and Atsumu walk together to the gates of the school. He turns to you, gives you a smirk, and tells you to head home first. 

“Huh? I thought you gonna come home with me?” You said, your slang was starting to show up again. 

“Nah, I got tryouts for volleyball today.” He said with a finality in his voice. He pats your head. “You’ll be fine, just head straight home and don’t get lost lil’ girl.” 

“Alright,” you feel a little dejected. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?” 

“We’ll walk together.” 

You say your goodbyes and head off in separate directions. Just as you got a few steps past the gates, you heard a familiar voice calling out to you. It was Tsubaki. 

_I thought she went home a long time ago already…_

“Hey girl,” you smiled at her. Kind of glad to see her again. Her hair shone in the evening sun. “I thought you went home first? What happened?”

She hooks her arm around yours. Do all Japanese girls act this friendly? “I figured that I should show you around the area for your first day. Plus I wanted to spend some more time with my new friend!” 

You were a bit taken aback by her words, but you accept her kindness regardless and take up the offer. She takes you to an ice cream shop nearby the school called Miyoko Ice. She claims that the ice cream here was the best in the area. She was right, it was really good. A bit overpriced, but good nonetheless. 

“So,” Tsubaki eyes you curiously, poking her ice cream. “You know Miya-kun?” 

It takes you a minute to register what she was asking. You were too focused on the ice cream and taking pictures for your foodstagram. 

“Uhh yea,” you’re still trying to angle your phone for the perfect boomerang. “Why?”

“Oh, cuz, everyone knows him around the area and he’s like tall and cute, you know?” She seems to be swooning just thinking about him. 

“Wooww you like A- Miya-san?” You change the way you address him, worried that she’ll get the wrong idea if you refer to him by his first name. Apparently it's weird to do that in Japan unless you're really close to someone. 

“Who doesn’t like him?” She closes her eyes with satisfaction. “Do you like him too, Aoyama-chan?” 

“Aha, you can count me out on that one,” you laughed at her question. You remembered about how you had a crush on him before leaving Japan and it made you sad when you had to leave, because even a 5 year old understood what it meant to be heartbroken. You remember all the times you asked your parents relentlessly why they couldn’t let you stay with grandparents in Japan. You tortured them so much with their questions, they made a slideshow on all the wonderful things California had to offer, finally hooking you in with OG Disneyland and lots of American sweets. 

“Well, one of these days I’ll ask Miya-kun out!” Tsubaki finishes her ice cream and proclaims triumphantly, raising her spoon to the sky. 

“Good luck with that one, he looks like a hard nut to crack,” you laugh at her proclamation. 

“What does that mean?” She asks, genuinely confused by your strange translation of the American saying. 

“It means,” you take a moment to stand up and stretch. “That it won’t be easy. But you’ll be fine Hamasaki-san.” 

“You can call me Tsubaki.” She smiles warmly before leading you out of the ice cream shop. 

You feel all bubbly from making a friend. Your first friend in Japan...again. 

Tsubaki leads you around the area, to shopping centers and into clothing shops. She takes you to an accessory shop and buys you matching key chains. 

“Now we’re really best friends, right Yua-chan?” she smiles at you. 

“Of course,” you replied in English, returning her smile. The both of you seemed so close that the cashier mistook you for sisters. You spend the rest of the day until the sunset with Tsubaki. You haven’t felt this happy since before you left America, during your middle school dance with your crush. 

Tsubaki takes you into a photo booth for the last stop of the day. You smiled brightly through the three, terrible quality photos. Tsubaki handed you one copy and she kept the other. Tsubaki drops you off in front of the school gates right before the sun disappears below the horizon. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Yua-chan.” 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You parted ways. You walk home holding your newly bought pink fluff key chain in your hand, thinking about your new best friend in Japan. You can’t wait to tell your mom about this. And about how you met Atsumu and Osamu again. 

You unlock the front gate to see your mom standing out in the front watering the grass. “ **Hey mommy.** ” You greet her in English.

“ **How was school today, love?** ” She replies in the same language. You’ve both agreed to speak in English at home to maintain your second language. 

“ **It was great, actually.** ” You admit. “ **I thought it would’ve been much worse and I wouldn’t fit in.** ”

You pause. Your mom hummed in satisfaction and continued watering the plants. 

“ **I actually met Atsumu and Osamu again. Do you remember them mommy?** ” You ask her after some hesitation. You know how she felt about you being at _that_ age and boys. She kind of got mad at you back in California when you told her you had a crush on a kid at your school. 

Your mom pauses and looks up at you. She didn’t want to show her worry that she felt came off as paranoia. “ **Really? The twins right?** ”

“ **Yea, they said to tell you hi.** ” It was a lie so they can be on her good side a bit.

“ **Oh? How nice of them. I’ll have to drop by some snacks to greet his family one of these days.** ” She heads to the side of the house to turn off the hose. “ **I got us some curry rice, head in first, I’ll come in, in a bit.** ”

You nodded in agreement and headed inside first. Curry rice. You and your dad’s favorite. Now it's just you enjoying...actually, it doesn’t taste the same without papa. The only reason you’re back in Japan is because your dad got promoted for his job. The previous CEO of the company he works for passed, he gave papa the company because he didn’t have any sons or daughters. Uncle Jin, the previous CEO, was indebted to your family because your mom and dad took him in when his wife left him homeless. He started a company that produces household appliances. He first started from the garage of your home and when his business gained a name and took off, he gave your dad a better job, the vice-president of the company. 

When you were born, your dad had been vice president for 2 years. The company was doing so well they decided to open a branch in California. Uncle Jin decided to fund your family's travels to America to help establish the new found branch. Your mom wasn’t particularly happy about the sudden move to America, but she believed that their love could overcome anything, take them anywhere, and that she would follow him anywhere as long as it was with him. She came to regret her decision. Your parent’s marriage got strained in America when your dad had to spend more time at the office rather than at home. He missed nearly all of your performances and his job even threatened to cause him to be late to your middle school graduation ceremony. 

  
  


1 Year Ago

_“If you dare miss Yua’s graduation ceremony, don’t dare show your face around us again.” Your mom hissed through the phone before hanging up._

_“Mommy?” You came downstairs after hearing yelling. “Is something wrong? Is papa coming?”_

_She had her back turned to you, but you felt her anger seeping to the corners of your living room. She turns around and smiles at you sadly._

_“He’ll come.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lord have mercy if Yua's dad doesn't show up we might have to beat his ass periodt!


	5. Redbull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So my car is dead, I was suppose to go to work today aaahhhhh stressed. So I'm stress publishing right now. I changed all conversations spoken in English, it's going to be in bold font now. ok byeee

1 Year Ago

_“Maria Andrea.” The principal reads out the student’s name. Everyone watches, with boredom and claps, almost like zombies at this point. It’s only the beginning of the ceremony. Maria’s friends and family are howling and whooping at the top of their lungs to congratulate her graduation._

_You wait quietly for your turn since it will be soon. You think about how to not trip across the stage since this is the second time you’re wearing heels. All the other girls around you are pulling out their powder and fixing their makeup caked faces. You aren’t wearing any. You glance around the stadium, peeking you head up, trying to spot your parents._

_You see your mom waving at you from the middle row. You wave back shyly. You wonder where your dad is._

_“Yua Aoyama.” The voice on the loud speaker booms._

_You stand up and walk gracefully over to receive your diploma. You thought it was stupid, but your mom, who you have never seen yelling before, screams out your name clapping and laughing happily. Your friends cheer in as well._

_“It’s not that bad.” you mutter under your breath and smile for the picture._

The Present

You sit at the table alone, waiting for your mom to come back in. You remember how your dad came late and was waiting outside of the school doors with a huge bouquet of roses. How your mom had the most furious look on her face. How much the silence weighed down upon you in the car. And the yelling later that night. How could you forget.

“ **Yua? You don’t like the curry rice? You haven’t touched it one bit!** ” Your mom removes her shoes at the door and walks over to where you were sitting, placing a hand on your chair.

You look up at her and put a mouthful of curry rice in your mouth. “ **It's good momma.** ”

“ **Good,** ” Your mom grins at you. “ **Cuz I made it, it better be good.** ”

Your mom has a ridiculously positive personality and rarely anything ever brings her down. Except your dad. He lifted her up and brought her down just as much. You can’t bring yourself to hate him, he’s your beloved papa. You see the way he looks at your mom when you guys have family dinner for your birthday. He still has the same look in his eyes as he did 10 years ago when you all ate at the same table every night. Their marriage was strained for years...it seems like your mom has shut herself off so that she doesn’t notice it anymore. Or feel heartbreak again.

“ **How was meeting papa today mommy?** ” You ask her through a mouthful of rice.

“ **Manners, Yua.** ”

_That line never changes._

She sighed. Her hand reaches for the seat next to yours, pulling it out with a screech from the contact with the floor. She plops herself down onto the chair and runs a hand through her hair. She seems tired.

“ **It was fine. He bought me another bouquet of roses. It's in the vase over there.** ” She jerks her head towards the kitchen. You crane your head and see the 20 or so roses in a vase.

“ **They’re pretty.** ”

“ **I don’t know why he’s still wasting his money like that. It’s so like him.** ” She looks annoyed. But you’re certain that she was happy about it.

“ **What did he ask to meet you for?** ” You pressed on.

“ **He wanted to talk about your future. Where you’re going to college and what not.** ” She explains, swiping a spoon of your food. “ **He also wants you to take up a position in the company to get you rolling.** ”

You nearly choke on your food. “ **He wants to what?** ”

“ **Wants you to pick up a position in his company. Like a s** **ecretary or something.** ” She looks at you. “ **I told him he’s going to have to come to you about that.** ”

“ **I don’t even know if I want to do business.** ” You interject.

“ **Well, that’s exactly why I said he’s going to have to talk to you.** ” Your mom ends that conversation there. “ **So, how was school?** ”

“ **You just asked me that like 20 minutes ago.** ”

“ **Ok, but I wanna hear mooore,** ” she puts her head in the palms of her hands like a child waiting for a new toy.

You sigh. “ **I met Atsumu and Osamu again-** ”

“ **Are they handsome now or are they still the little brats I remembered them to be?** ”

“ **Mom!** ”

“ **Ok, ok.** ” She raises both of her hands up to admit defeat.

“ **They’re tall, like. California boys tall.** ”

She looks surprised. “ **Wow, their parents must be really happy about that.** ”

“ **I bet.** ” You agreed with her. “ **I also made a new friend. Her name is Tsubaki, she’s really pretty, like. Drop dead gorgeous.** ”

“ **No one’s as pretty as my little Yua.** ” Your mom pinches your cheeks and coos in adoration.

“ **Mom!** ”

Your mom pauses and stares at you.

“ **What is it?** ” You’re getting a little concerned at her sudden quietness.

“ **Nothing, I’m just thinking about how much you’ve grown. It just seemed like yesterday you were the little girl who got in a fight with that white kid in 1st grade.** ”

“ **Ugh, Chris? Don’t remind me.** ” You roll your eyes at the thought of that distasteful kid.

“ **Now you’re a young woman. In high school. I hope you don’t hate Japan,** ” your mom picks up your dish and walks over to the sink. “ **It is a lot different than America, but the people are the same. Some are kind, some will be cunning. Some will be your friends for life, and others…** ”

She pauses and switches back to speaking Japanese. “Well, it's too early to worry now! I’ll be down here if you need anything.”

That’s her signal to let you go. You oblige and head upstairs to your room. You pull out all of your papers and begin studying.

* * *

**Today 3:01 AM**

**Yua, honey, what are you still doing up?**   
**Go to sleep.**

**I’m studying**   
**I’ll sleep in a bit mommy**   
**Read 3:03 AM**

* * *

Beep….beep….beep….

“ **Goddamit.** ” You mumble as you roll out of bed. You glance at the clock.

7:45AM

“ **I hate everything.** ” You pull on your uniform and head downstairs for breakfast.

“ **Hey honey, I made you some eggs and bacon.** ” Your mom places a plate in front of you before sharing you an egg and 2 slices of bacon as well as a thick slice of toast. This was exactly what you needed. The smell was irresistible.

“ **Hey mommy,** ” You paused in the middle of your early day feast. “ **Can you get me some redbull today?** ”

“ **Aw you’re starting that again** ” Your mom frowns, but still has a humorous tone in her voice. “ **I thought you left that habit in SoCal.** ”

“ **Nah,** ” You shook your head in defeat. You speak with a slight accent. “I have to study Japanese. A lot.”

“Alright, I’ll grab you a pack. 4 or an actual whole pack?”

“The whole pack please.” You grinned at her.

\-------------  
Your days continue peacefully. Nothing out of the ordinary high school scenarios happened. Maybe except for the fact that Tsubaki convinced you to run for student council office as president due to your personality and efficiency. She claimed that it’ll be the best three years Inarizaki high has ever seen if you run as president. She promised that she’ll take up the position of vice president to support you. Of course, you guys win the election with nearly all of the student body’s votes. It was outstanding as promised. On top of that, Atsumu and Osamu managed to convince you to join the volleyball team as their manager. You reluctantly agree, but came to love your decision as you learned from the coach that no one has ever wanted to take up the position as manager for the past 5 years, and that you were the first one. He was absolutely thrilled that you took up the position.

You soon learned that your job as President and club manager will wear on you. Not to mention that now you’re class president, as well as club manager, you have the newborn responsibility of rescuing Atsumu from the teacher’s office every time he makes a girl cry or gets caught for PDA. You take back what you said about the twins being the same. Well...one of them changed for sure. He became the school playboy.

_The redbull really came in handy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh this don't sound good.


	6. STATUS UPDATE(!!!!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :0 NOT A CHAPTER HAHA BUT ITS A SHORT UPDATE

So I recently re-read Killing Stalking, a manhwa on Lehzin (you can find it on other manga sites), BUT THE POINT IS THAT.

ATSUMU LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE SANGWOO the psychopathic sadistic murdered and I JUST CANNOT GET THAT OUT OF MY HEAD AND ITS MESSING UP MY VIBE FOR WRITING THIS STORY. I FEEL SO BAD CUZ THE MANHWA RLLY FUCKED ME UP AND IM SO NOT OK 

everytime I try to focus and write something cute and fluffy my mind just wanders to Sangwoo (AND HE IS HOT LIKE. HOT aside from his murderous tendancies) and so I cannot,, just CANNOT. a girl is hella unstable. 

BUT I am in the process of revising the next chapter. I didn't like my original plot so I'm switching it up a bit, it was too cheese/dramatic/kdrama bullshitty for me and I hella cringed when I re-read it *induces throw up* 

It'll be up tonight! Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you, as always, for coming with me on this wild ride

(((o(*°▽°*)o)))  
---


	7. Dreamers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IM GONNA SHOOOOOT MYSELF I UPLOADED THE WRONG CHAPTER IM SO SORRY

Tsubaki sighs as you guys sit in your classroom. 

“What’s wrong?” You continued your notes for math during lunch break. It’s been a month since you came to the school. 

“It’s almost midterms and finals time.” Tsubaki places her head down on your desk. She draws little circles on the surface with her delicate finger. “I hate it here.” 

You laugh and close your notebook. “You need some redbull?” 

“I don’t want to be a workaholic insomniac like you Yua-chan.” She gives you a pouty look. 

“Whatever, Imma take a nap.” You informed her of your 3rd knockout for the day. You’ve fallen back into your usual short nap, study, student council duties, manager duties, study, short nap, study, short nap habit. Maybe you are a workaholic insomniac. But at least it pays off with your ridiculously high grades. 

_ I need to try harder for Japanese class. It’s not an A yet. _

“Heeeeyyyy Aoyama-chan.” You hear a familiar voice call out to you. You grumble in response. 

“Wakey wakey, Kita-san is looking for you.” You look up to see Atsumu’s face 3 inches away from yours. 

_ He smells good. _

“Can’t you see these bags,” you motioned at your eyebags. You put your head back down in your crossed arms, close your eyes and try to drift off to sleep again. “I need sleep before practice today, Kita-san can catch me later during practice. It's not like I don’t stay until 6:30PM everyday or something.” You mumbled the last part.

“Hey,” Atusmu grabs your face with both hands and pulls your face up to look at him. He inspected your face with worried eyes and a smirk as usual. “Who dares over work you? I’ll have a word with them.”

You glance over planning to beg Tsubaki to help you. Instead you meet her extremely displeased glare at your and Atsumu’s exchange. You look away so fast you thought your eyes were going to fly out of its sockets. You didn’t think Tsubaki would be that hostile towards you and Atsumu. He’s always like this. With so many other girls, too. You feel yourself sweating and starting to feel cold. 

“Hm? Who did this to our little Yua?” Atsumu tries to get an answer out of you. 

“No one, jush me.” You answer him, your cheeks still smushed together. 

He looks at you for a second longer before letting you go. With a nonchalant shrug, he gives your head a soft pat. “Alrighty, whatever ya say. Anyways, me an’ Samu are gonna drop by later to visit Auntie. D’ya know what she likes?”

You sweat the more he stays at your table and talks to you about something personal. Tsubaki’s gaze probably burned a hole through the side of your head at this point. “Uh, honey butter chips. The korean ones.” 

“Oh, those,” Atsumu puts a hand on his chin and thinks about it seriously. “Shitty Samu likes those too.” He flashes you his trademark smile and tells you that they’ll meet up with you later. 

The atmosphere was unbearable at this point, but as soon as Atsumu walked away, you sighed a breath of relief. You and Tsubaki watch as he walks out of the classroom before putting an arm around some girl waiting outside and disappearing out of sight. 

The moment of silence between you and Tsubaki persists as you watch her keep her eyes glued onto where Atsumu was last seen. 

“So,” Tsubaki’s voice cuts like a knife. Her marble eyes rolling back in your direction, her gaze feels like bullets. “Anything you wanna tell me?” 

You look at her, poker face, trying not to show any obvious signs of nervousness. “Whatcha mean?” 

“You and Atsumu. I thought you said you had nothing going on in between you two? Did you lie to me?” Tsubaki was angry. Angrier than you’ve ever seen her. The other students started to take notice in your exchange with her and the tension increased. 

“You KNOW I like him!” She exclaimed, her voice shaking. She mumbled under her breath thinking that you wouldn’t have been able to hear her, but you did. 

“ _ I practically called dibs on him you bitch.” _

“Tsubaki-chan-” 

“Save it.” She storms off angrily. You didn’t see her for the rest of the lunch break. You couldn’t sleep either. A few students followed her with worried looks. At least someone would comfort her. When Tsubaki did come back from lunch break, she didn’t even do as much as look in your direction. It was like you didn't exist to her. You couldn’t bring yourself to interact with Atsumu for the rest of the day either. Your clouded mind and insomnia starts to catch up with you, which proved to bear its consequences during volleyball practice that evening.

“Kita-san?” You wearily walked up to the boy. “You wanted to talk to me about something?” 

“Ah yes,” He seems a little bit taken aback by your appearance. Your hair and face is probably a mess. “No, it’s nothing. I’ll just text you later, it’s nothing important.”

You nod and leave it at that. You sit down next to the coach and get ready to note down their next practice match. Atsumu looks over in your direction with a worried look but changes it to a smile when you make eye contact with him, giving you a thumbs up. 

You smile wearily back. The same wonky smile you give everyone you’re tired. You manage to sit through the first set, but at the beginning of the second set, you feel increasingly tired. 

“I’ll be right back coach,” you ask to be excused to go grab your water bottle from your bag that is sitting across the gym. As soon as you got up, you felt the world spin, your legs giving out. You crash to the ground without warning. 

“Huh?” 

“Yua!” Atsumu races over to where you are, Osamu not far behind him. 

“I’m going to call her mom. Yua give me your phone.” Osamu holds his hand out to grab your phone from you. 

Your consciousness is failing you. It wouldn’t hurt to take a long nap for once, you think to yourself and allow the darkness to envelop you. 

The noises started to drown out and you felt like you were floating. Your consciousness fades and you succumb to the darkness that enveloped you. 

_ You open your eyes. You’re home. Standing in the kitchen. This wasn’t your dining table from America. This was the one you had right now, in Japan. Uncle Jin was sitting at the table with your parents, happily sipping on a cup of coffee. _

_ “Uncle Jin.”  _

_ “Hey Yua.” He looks up at you. “What are you doing here?” _

_ “I-” You were confused. This had to be a dream. “I’m dreaming right now.” _

_ “You overworked yourself again didn’t you?” Uncle Jin asks you with worry in his eyes. “You only come visit me when you work yourself, you goon.” _

_ “I don’t…” This wasn’t the first time that you’ve met Uncle Jin in this dreamlike world. But you’re still surprised every time.  _

_ “Sit down, child. I have lots of stories to tell you.” Uncle Jin pulls out the chair next to him. You take a seat. He tells you his stories about the beyond. Asks you about how you’ve been doing and what it took for you to come visit him again. You explain what happened.  _

_ “So then during club I just fell asleep.” You twiddle your fingers, embarrassed that you fell asleep-fainted in front of the whole volleyball club like that.  _

_ “It was so pathetic. It looked like something out of a Kdrama, ugh. Gross” you did a fake shudder, causing Uncle Jin to explode into laughter at your comedic reenactment.  _

_ “Hey,” Uncle Jin places his cup down gently, which makes a dull thud on the table. You can hear the water dripping from the faucet at the sink. “Your mother is calling you.” _

_ “Oh.” You responded with disappointment in your voice. He says this every time you’re about to wake up.  _

_ “Yua...I hope that I won’t have to meet you again anytime soon. It’s not good for you to be here.” He smiles kindly at you and pats your head lovingly. “I love you and I’ll be watching over you. Be careful of that Ts-” _

You wince at the bright light that is penetrating through your eyelids. You slowly open your eyes, the weariness and sleepiness hasn’t worn off yet. White ceiling with the gross texture you’ve always hated. You were back in your own bedroom. You momentarily stretch before laying there, immobile, for a few moments longer. All the fatigue you felt from the day had disappeared. 

_ I should sleep more. _

You slowly roll to your right and swing your legs off of the bed. You search around for your phone, feeling the sheets around you in the dark trying to feel for the familiar cold metal. Attempt failed. You take a deep breath and stand up, feeling a little wobbly from standing up too fast. 4 steps towards the front, one big step over your laptop, and hand on the knob. The light from downstairs temporarily blinds your currently light sensitive eyes.

“ **Mommy? Are you there?”** You call out to your mother. You’re sure she’s still awake right now.

“ **Baby? Are you awake?”** You hear your mother’s relieved voice and quick footsteps towards the bottom of the stairs. Your mom was wearing the same outfit she had on when you left for school this morning. She rushes up the stairs and nearly knocks you off your feet with a tight hug. 

“ **How are you feeling, baby? Are you hungry?”**

**“I’m okay, Mommy.”** You actively think about if you’re hungry or not. Luckily your stomach did the thinking for you and made a weird gurgling sound.  **“I’m a litttle hungry.”**

You follow your mom downstairs. Your eyes widen in surprise when you find 3 men sitting at your table. Atsumu, Osamu, and finally, your dad. 

“ **Dad?”**

**“Heeyyyy, how you feelin’?”** he grins at you.The same up-to-no-good grin that you know and love. You leap into his arms, immediately feeling energetic. You hold back your tears. You haven’t seen him since you moved back to Japan. 

“Would you boys like some dinner, too?” Your mom asks the twins, trying not to have them feel too awkward while you were catching up with your dad. 

“Why are you here?” You ask your dad, wondering how he convinced your mom to let him back into the house.

“I had to come see how my little girl is doing,” he pinches your cheek affectionately. It was like you were a whole family again. 

“Ok, ok enough with the soap opera,” your mom breaks you guys up with a smile on her face. “I asked him to come over to check up on you...and for a late night dinner.” 

You and your dad stare at your mom like she’s an alien. 

“Is this the same Mimiko I know?”

“No way.”

Laughter rings out in the house. The twins got to witness a touching family reunion as they ate their food quietly on the other side of the dining table. You guys spent the rest of your late dinner talking about everything. Little things, big things, baby pictures, embarrassing moments, and everything in between. You felt full of life and love. 

“It’s getting late. Come on, Miyas. I’ll drop you guys off on the way out.” Your dad picks up his stuff before heading towards the front door. The Miya twins followed after exchanging a few play punches with you and promising that they’d pick you up from school the next day. 

“No can do,” your mom interrupts them, causing them to look at each other with confusion. “She’s taking a week off of school.”

“What?” You blurted out.

“Yea, take a break, I already called the school.” Your mom has a look of victory in her eyes. She ushers the boys out the front door, telling them that they should drop by for breakfast for the next week since you’ll be home and probably bored. You and your mom watched as the three men that occupied your dinner table finally cleared out, leaving the house with a peaceful silence again. 

“Men are so rowdy.”

“Yes. Yes, they are.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha doo doo chapter soz uwu


	8. Roses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm a whole clown, I uploaded this chapter for the last chapter bUT WORRY NOT I CORRECTED IT!!! I'M SORRY SSKKSJ

_ “Samu.” _

_ “What Shitty ‘Tsumu.” _

_ “I think that girl that hangs ‘round Yua has feelings for me.” _

_ “Ok, what’s new. Don’t tell me you’re trying to brag again.” _

_ “Shut up and listen. Ya shoulda seen the way she glared at Yua on the first day of school. She’s bouta kill the poor girl.” _

_ “Ya can’t really do anything about that. Just tell Yua to stop hangin around her.”  _

_ “I can’t. Yua thinks that girl’s her only friend or somethin.”  _

_ Osamu thinks about this for a bit before sighing loudly.  _

_ “D’ya have feelings for Yua or something?” _

* * *

You spent a mini vacation in your house because your mom and dad argued with the school to let you off for a week. For the entire week, your mom confiscates your redbull, schoolwork and forces you to sleep. Even going as far as trying to convince you to quit student council because it seems too much. 

“Have you taken a look at your phone yet? Atsumu-kun and Osamu-kun were messing with it the other day while you were sleeping.” Your mom mentions it at the table one morning. 

“Really?” You were genuinely confused because they didn’t seem like the type to snoop. Guess curiosity gets the best of everyone. 

“Oh,” Your mom looks up at you with a raised eyebrow. “I guess Osamu-kun and Atsumu-kun just wanted to see your homework notes or something haha.”

“Haha, very funny.”

_ Strange.  _

The next day, when you were locking the front gate, ready to leave the house, you see Osamu and Atsumu standing outside your gate on their phones. Waiting for you, presumably. 

“Hey.”

“Yo.” Atsumu and Osamu were in sync, both waving at you too. 

“ **Shall we go?** ” You say in English. 

Atsumu looks confused for a second before registering what you said. “ **Let’s go!** ” He replied back in terrible english. 

“Stupid ‘Tsumu. Ya sound stupid.”

“Words can hurt.”

“Didn’t know you had feelings, you block of cement.”

“Yer built like one, Crappy ‘Samu.”

“We look the same.”

“...”

When you walk into your classroom, with Atsumu in tow, the whole class stares at you in shock before exploding into questions concerning your health. You assure them that you’re fine and ready to come back to them as Ms. President, ready to do the paperwork. You scan the classroom looking for Tsubaki. She’s in her seat, tears threatening to roll down her face. 

“Yua-chan!” She cries out, running over to you and nearly knocking you over with a hug. “I’m so sorry I sounded so mean that day. I-if only I didn’t..”

You return her hug. “It’s okay, Tsubaki-chan. I’m okay, really.” You pause for a second before whispering to her that you guys should talk. 

Tsubaki lets go of you for a second. She makes a face with a strange emotion that you couldn’t describe before nodding in agreement, wiping off a tear from her long lashes.

Class went by as usual. Boring and slow paced. At least all the information you learned before your mini vacation was still there. You’re thankful for all the nights you stayed up to be a try-hard and learn ahead of the class. You’re caught up with them now. The bell for lunch break rang. You packed up your stuff and took out your sandwich lunch. You look at Tsubaki and ask her if she’s ready to talk. 

The two of you walk out to the courtyard in silence. No one goes here because it’s the middle of May, and everyone is either in their classrooms or the library studying. The tension was still in the air.

“Tsubaki-chan,” You wanted to initiate the conversation to not make her feel too awkward about it. “Why did you get so mad at me that day? Did I do something wrong?” 

You asked that but you already knew the answer. You just wanted to hear it directly from her. 

She looks down at the ground beneath her. You hear her taking a deep breath before replying, “I felt jealous. Atsumu-kun never glances in my direction and...and I like him so much! I just...I lost control. I’m so sorry!” 

She grabs your hands and looks at you with puppy eyes. How could you not forgive her? She’s your cute friend, your first friend, every girl gets jealous, you understood this well. You squeeze her hands with reaffirming strength and smile gently at her promising her that it's okay and that you’ve forgiven her. 

“Did anything happen while I was gone?’ You decide to change the topic to a lighter one. Lunch is too short to be sitting in a pool of tension. 

“Oh..” She starts blushing. “Actually, I confessed to Miya-kun two days ago..”

_ What? _

You stop dead in your tracks. You nearly let that ‘what’ slip out of your mouth. “Oh? How did it go?” You ask after you regain your composure.

“He said yes!” Tsubaki squealed in delight. “He’s never said yes to anyone else in the school before! Oh, I’m so so happy~!” She stands up and spins around.

You watch her as she rants on about how wonderful Atsumu was. She was undeniably pretty. The prettiest girl in the school even. All the boys that have asked her out up until this point, she always acts like they don’t exist and claims that they don’t hold a candle to Atsumu. She’s not wrong about that one. Atsumu and Tsubaki, they seem like they’d make a good couple. He’s a bit of an ass, but you figured that he found someone good this time.

_ I don’t like this feeling in my chest. _

Regardless, you disregard your personal turmoil and congratulate her and tell her to start heading to class, as the bell was going to ring any second now. You’re stuck in a trance for the rest of the day. It felt like you were a zombie just programmed to move. One moment you were taking a roll call for volleyball club and the next, a ball had just slammed into your face. 

“I’m fine- it just stings a bit,” you hurriedly try to calm everyone down. 

“AH! SHE’S BLEEDING!” Someone pointed out your bleeding nose. 

You covered it up with your sleeve as Kita-san grabbed you a clean towel. The coach puts a hand on your shoulder and tells you to go home first and that he’ll make some first years clean up the gym in your place. You giggle at his offer, but don’t decline it. You said your goodbyes and headed home. 

Atsumu gives you a long look, no smile. You glance back nervously at him a few times before leaving, giving him a small wave and pointing at your phone, your signal for “text me.” 

The rest of your walk home consisted of you being in a trance. You couldn’t believe that Tsubaki and Atsumu are going out. He didn’t even say anything this morning. You felt...hurt. Your chest was tight. But the feeling was foreign to you, so you brush it off as heartburn or something. 

“Heeey kiddo!” You hear a familiar voice call out to you from behind the gate. It snaps you out of your thoughts. In front of the glow coming from your house, you see a figure of a man. A man you call papa. 

“Papa?” Your eyes shine with excitement that you couldn’t contain. You fumble with the keys, struggling to get the gate to open for you. But once you did, you leapt into your papa’s arms as he swung you around.

“Woah! You’re getting bigger everyday!” He laughs joyfully. 

Your mom watches from the patio with a smile on her face. You haven’t seen this scene since you left America. 

“Come on, you riff raffs. I made curry rice.” Your mom tells the both of you to get your butts inside the house. You and your dad race each other back in. Dinner went by pleasantly, filled with laughter and color. You see your dad off after dinner. He said that he’ll go back to his own house since he has a meeting tomorrow, but promises that he’ll be here for dinner. You and your mom watch as the taillights of his car fade into the night. 

“Let’s see how well he keeps his promise this time.” Your mom states as a matter of factly before heading back into the house first, mumbling something about how it’s cold. 

“Mommy, did you...make up with papa?” You ask curiously. 

“Hmm,” She ponders on the thought. “It may be a work in progress.” She grins at you. The life starts to return in her face, she looks a year younger than she did a month ago. She then motions towards the kitchen. 

On the counter near the sink sat a fresh bouquet of roses in a vase. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahaha maybe Yua will have to shoot her shot with Atsumu woohoo


	9. Goodnight, Sweet Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good lord this chapter kinda hit me in the feels HA

You were about to fall asleep that night, thinking about how your mom finally let your dad back into the house, that you almost completely forget about Tsubaki and Atsumu. 

You decide to text Atsumu. You’re not entirely sure if he was going to text back or not, but you send it anyways. You didn’t want to miss the chance of asking him directly.

**Atsumu**

**Hey**

**You up?**

You put down your phone, but the next notification didn’t take long to come in. 

**Atsumu**

**Yea whats up**

**nothin, i just said i was**

**gonna text you today so**

**Haha**

**whatcha doing up late?**

**studyin again?**

**nah bro imy thats why i b up**

**aye flirting like that**

**should be illegal**

**shut up fatty,,,hey i wanted**

**to ask you bout you and**

**Tsubaki?**

**Yea we’re dating or wtv**

**Why? Did she come**

**bitching at you or some?**

**No...just surprised you didnt**

**tell me first.**

Read 1:22AM 

He didn’t reply for a while. You figured that he fell asleep and turned off your phone, placing it under your pillow. You feel a pang of disappointment at the fact that he couldn’t reply to your comment. 

_ Oh well, it can wait for another day. _

You fall asleep, dreaming about Tsubaki and Atsumu. Not really a dream, felt like a nightmare, having to watch them be gross and lovey dovey. What made it worse was that this wasn’t one of your usual lucid dreams. You were frozen in place, forced to watch the two be all up on each other. Atsumu was smiling and loving, so unlike the real him, you thought to yourself. The Atsumu is the physical embodiment of the word womanizer, heartbreaker, and is a world class asshole. 

_ If a relationship turns Feral Atsumu into Domesticated Atsumu then maybe this isn’t too bad. _

You secretly wish that it could’ve been you and not Tsubaki. But you would never tell a soul about that thought...you would soon forget it anyways. 

Morning came, as it does everyday. At last, you have secretly convinced Osamu to invest in some redbull for you, promising that you’d pay for his next month’s volleyball magazine subscription. You shove your smuggled pack of redbull into your locker. 

“I’ll see you later, my precious,” you pet the pack of redbull. Midterms start this week and finals in a few weeks. Japan is sure hardcore, not different from America. You remembered the two weeks you had between midterms before Thanksgiving break and finals the week after you came back from break. You shudder at the thought. You head to class for another fun filled day (sarcasm intended). 

_ Momma is going to kill me if she finds out I’ve been up again. Better take a power nap during lunch and before volleyball practice. _

You put away your notes and were about to put your head down for a nap, but not before you see Atsumu and Tsubaki waltzing out of the classroom arm in arm again for the 3rd time today from the corner of your eye. 

_Ugh, gross._ _Oh god, did I just think that about my two friends?_

You shake your head and go back to your power nap commitment. You drift off into a deep sleep, you don’t dream of anything. Or did you? You’re not sure, you could sleep forever...Your nap was disturbed all of a sudden by a small shake. 

“Hey, Yua-chan. It’s time for student council activities.” Tsubaki’s hair was tickling your face as she leaned over you to see if you were still alive.

_ Wait, did she say student council activities? _ You shoot up out of your seat and look around. Everyone was packing up or cleaning up the classroom. You’re mortified. 

“How long have I been asleep?” 

“Since lunchtime. The teachers saw you sleeping but they figured that you work so hard so often you needed a break so they told no one to disturb you.” Tsubaki said with a pinch of annoyance in her voice. “How lucky.”

“What was that?” You didn’t catch the last part. 

“Nothing!” She gives you one of her sweet smiles. It seems sickeningly sweet now, it was nauseous having to be on the receiving end. 

_ Is it just me or is she getting shadier everyday? _ You dismiss the thought as soon as it popped up. You had better things to occupy your mind with. 

You head to the meeting room with Tsubaki. You ask her if she’s not going to go see Atsumu first, since that was her daily ritual now. Her schedule seemed to be filled with Atsumu. You’re surprised that you haven’t had to rescue the two of them from the office for reports of PDA. Guess they’re giving you a break. You think about all the scenes you’ve witnessed in empty hallways, it was borderline soft porn. 

“No,” Tsubaki snaps you out of your dangerously wandering thoughts. “He says he absolutely has to go to practice on time today, so he went to buy knee pads or something and he’ll be back in an hour.” 

“Alright. If he’s late for practice today I’ll give him an ass-whoopin.” You slide the doors to the meeting room open. “Let’s get this over with.”

Student council meeting dragged on until it was near practice time. There were a lot of things that you had missed during the week that you were absent. It took all the brainpower you had to brush up any mistakes in regards to funding and such. Festivals were going to happen soon and you weren’t going to fuck up your first festival as student council president.

You were forced to end things early due to volleyball club activities. You kindly remind everyone to finish up on the group chat. You dismiss everyone and hustle your way down to the gym. Tsubaki followed, insisting that she wanted to come watch practice today. You had no problem with that as long as she wasn’t a disturbance she can come along. 

The practice match that Inarizaki held today was intense. The coach seemed wary of the upcoming tournaments and decided to ramp up the intensity of practice. The penalty for today’s match was a 4 lap, 30 minute run around the school. No one wanted to go through that, especially after a scrimmage. 

By the end of practice, Atsumu and Osamu’s team won against the third years, forcing them to be penalized. Since the sun had already set, the coach held off penalties until first thing tomorrow, saying that the winning team wouldn’t hurt having to increase their stamina either. Every team member groaned in annoyance, knowing what was coming for them tomorrow.

You laugh and tell everyone good job as you handed out water bottles and towels. 

“Heya Yua!” Atsumu walks up to you. “Can I get some water too?”

You hand him a bottle. “Good job today. You’re really improving fast, it’s almost scary watching you.”

“Of course, I am good at what I do. How can I, the great Miya Atsumu, ever be bad?” He has that smug look on his face. The look that makes you wanna wipe it off with the towels you were holding. 

You grab the towels on the bench next to you and proceed to look for the next team member who needs a tower. You turn around and pat his head with a smile. “Shut up.” 

You changed your mind about wiping his smug look off his face. You could punch it off right now. 

Atsumu tackles you and starts air punching you. You burst into a laughing fit and call out to Osamu to stop him. Osamu peeks over and drags Atsumu off to the other end of the court. Osamu calls Atsumu a ‘stupid idiot’ which propelled into a heated bickering fest. You hear all sorts of profanity bounce off the walls of the gym. You and the rest of the team get a good laugh out of the situation before finishing the clean up process. 

* _ click _ *

You walk out of the gym between Atsumu and Osamu, ready to go home, when you hear a familiar voice calling out to the three of you.

_ Oh my god, I forgot Tsubaki was here. Did she see everything? I hope she doesn’t get the wrong idea.  _ You wonder why you think she would get the wrong idea, it’s not like Atsumu has a thing for you. (Author note: ofc he doesn’t haha why would you think that Ms. Main character?)

Tsubaki smiles like an angel at the three of you. “You guys going home now?” 

“Yea.” Osamu steps in front of you. Almost like he was shielding you, 

“Tsubaki-chan, don’t you live in the opposite direction? Will you be okay?” You peek out behind Osamu to ask her. You catch a glimpse of her face right before she smiles sweetly again. It was an indescribable anger. Almost similar to hatred. 

“Oh! I’ll be fine,” She waves her hand to usher you and Osamu off. “Atsumu-kun is walking me home today.”

“Hah? What are you-” Atsumu starts to complain. 

“Good idea.” Osamu jabs him in the ribs then spins you around. “See you at home ‘Tsumu.” 

“Don’t turn around, keep walking.” Osamu whispers into your ear. You listen to his words and don’t dare turn around to look at Atsumu. You feel a weird clenching feeling in your chest area. 

_ Maybe I’m not sleeping enough. _

You and Osamu spend the first 5 minutes walking in silence.

“Yua. How do you feel about Yua and Atsumu?” Osamu asks you. 

You look up at him. He still has eyes on the road up ahead of him. You take a moment to think about what he meant.

“It’s normal. They’re both good looking people, it's not really surprising that they’re going out.” You say nonchalantly. 

“Is that how you really feel?” Osamu says. Not missing a beat. 

“It just kinda sucked he didn’t tell me. Thought we were close.” You gave Osamu a grin. You’re 100% sure he saw through that smile. You didn’t like anything about Atsumu and Tsubaki being together at all, no matter how much you tried to fool yourself.

Osamu says nothing in response. You were deep in thought about what Osamu meant, trying to get to the bottom of your feelings. It wasn’t like him to ask about something trivial like that. He could care less about relationships. But you knew that when it comes to you or his brother, it becomes personal. Osamu drops you off in front of your house, greeting your parents who were waiting on the patio, before continuing down the road towards his house. 

“How’s school today?” Your dad asks. Taking your bag from your hands. 

“It was normal. Club was fun.” You replied, the fatigue from the day catching up to you. You needed a nap. 

“Midterms should be coming soon, right?” Your mom adds in. “Try not to study too hard.”

“I’ll be fine.” You give her a hug. “I’ll ace it even if I don’t study.”

You decline dinner and head to your room. You’re not in the mood to stomach dinner right now. You were too engrossed in your conversation with Osamu. What did he mean? Did he notice something you didn’t? 

* * *

_ “‘Tsumu.” Osamu sounded genuinely concerned. “What the hell happened.” _

_ This wasn’t the first time he saw his brother come home with a handprint on his face, but. It was much more severe than all the ones from before. _

_ “She was pisssed, ‘Samu. Like. Pissed.” _

_ “She's just lucky you didn't give her matching handprints, too.” _

_"I'm an ass, but I know better than to hit a girl, Shit face."_

* * *

That night, you dreamt of Atsumu...again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "If you ever have problems, blame it on your sleep cycle." The Yua Mentality, 2020


	10. Missing Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WE GETTING SOMEWHERE NOW. I'm taking advantage of when the emotional baggage of reading Killing Stalking isn't weighing down on my sOUL to write new chapters. Enjoy as usual!!

Midterms finally ended today. You heard the rumors about Atsumu hooking up with another girl from Osamu’s class. You glance at Tsubaki. She’s not doing too well concealing her feelings lately. 

“Tsubaki-” 

“What.” She snapped at you. Realizing what she just did, she changed her expression and tone. Tsubaki apologizes for her rude response and asks you what’s wrong. 

You wanted to ask her if she was okay, but you felt like you were only going to step on a landmine if you did something that foolish. All you could reply with was, ‘It’s nothing.’

Atsumu walks Tsubaki home everyday after practice now, and every time he has to, he seems annoyed out of his mind. He doesn’t even talk to you anymore during school or practice. He just waves at you and that’s it. You feel the same tightening in your chest. You ask to be excused to find heartburn medicine. 

_ It must’ve been the lunch I had today. _

You didn’t notice Osamu following you. He grabs your hand and spins you around. 

“Did you not hear me call out to you?”

You let out a yelp. You were taken by surprise and scared you too. The look he had on his face was a mixture of concern and desperacy. 

“ **S-sorry.** ” You blurted out in English.

“It’s okay.” He loosened his grip on your hand. “Can you come over to our house today?”

“Uh, yea sure. I’ll just text my parents first?” You reluctantly agree with a strange look on your face. Osamu sighed and let go of your hand. 

“Alright. We just wanna chill and do something fun for once.” Osamu pauses. “I’ll walk you home today, too.” 

The walk home was the same as everyday. When you got to the Miyas’ home, you felt scared. You haven’t been here since you were 5 years old. You haven’t even properly greeted their parents when you came back to Japan. You had no idea if they even knew you existed or not. You excused yourself and took off your shoes at the door. 

“Good evening.” You greeted politely, still a little nervous. Osamu’s parents greeted you warmly and offered you tea and snacks. They praised you on how much you’ve grown, rambling on about how you’ve become so beautiful and that they’re glad their sons are friends with you. 

“Aren’t you two single, Osamu?” The twin’s mom had  _ that _ glint in her eyes.

“Alright, mom, that’s enough.” Osamu interjects. Not rudely, though. “Can I take her upstairs? Atsumu should be home soon, we have a project to finish for class.”

_ Smooth criminal. He lies so easily I should take notes. _

“Okay, sweetie. I’ll send snacks up when Atsumu comes home.” His mom flashes you a wide smile. The same smile Atsumu has. 

You and Osamu spend the rest of the time waiting for Atsumu to come home playing the games that they had. You suggest playing Animal Crossing on your switch. Osamu gets hooked instantly, he begins forcing the villagers to sing because he thought the song was cute. You laugh at his commitment, as it’s not easy to make villagers sing whenever you want them to. 

“Heey.” Atsumu swings the door open loudly with snacks in hand. “I got snacks.”

It’s been so long since you’ve had a chance to be close with him. You rush over and give him a tight hug without a second thought. 

“Woaah, what’s this? What’s wrong, Yua?” He returns your hug and pats your head affectionately. 

“She misses you, shitty ‘Tsumu.” Osamu says in his deadpan voice.

You guess that this is where Atsumu shot him a nasty look but said nothing. He didn’t want to break out into an argument during one of your most precious moments with him. You rest your chin on his neck. He still smells as good as you remembered. 

“Sorry,” You let go of him. “Forgot you were taken, haha.” 

“Haha.” Atsumu mocks your fake laugh. He looks worn out. 

The three of you have a good time talking about school, midterms, the upcoming volleyball training camp, tournaments, and how Atsumu is doing with Tsubaki. 

“How are you with Tsubaki?” You ask Atsumu, since Tsubaki seems to refuse to tell you anything relating to Atsumu, even going as far as getting visibly annoyed when you accidentally referred to him at “Atsumu” instead of “Miya-kun”.

“She’s the best girlfriend I’ve ever had. Really makes my heart just race!” He exaggerates his speech, closing his eyes and putting his hand over his heart. But he also seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it much. You and Osamu exchange glances before pushing him to dish out what else was bothering him.

“She’s...really freakin annoying.” He confesses. “She’s so obsessed over everything I do and demands that I give attention to her. Who does she think she is?” He pauses and pulls out his phone which has been vibrating like someone was calling him. “Look!” 

He shows up his phone with 13 notifications from Tsubaki- which he has named “Annoying B”

You and Osamu burst into a fit of laughter, you can barely breath. You shouldn’t be feeling so relieved seeing your best girl friend get thrashed like this, but you are thoroughly enjoying it. 

“Why dontcha break up with her then?” You ask Atsumu through your laughter.

Osamu and Atsumu look at each other. Atsumu shook his head and said, “No can do. I’m a man on a mission.” 

_ Bzzt _

**(2) Momma Bear: Hey hon, ready to go home?**

**It’s getting late.**

“Sorry guys,” You wipe off the tears threatening to roll off your face. “Momma’s tellin me to go home.”

Osamu stands up and hands you your Switch. “‘Tsumu is walking you home.” 

Atsumu cocks his head to one side and shrugs with his trademark smile on his face. “No complaints here. Let’s go missy.” 

Atsumu holds out his hand and you gladly take it, doing a mock curtsy, “ **I’m in your care, sir.** ” You say in english. 

“ **My pleasure, madam** .” He replies in the same terrible accent he always has. 

“You sound like an idiot!” Osamu calls out from the bunk bed.

You giggle as you walk downstairs together. You tell his parents goodnight and thank them for letting you come over before heading out. 

“Summer is coming isn’t it?” Typical conversation starter. 

“It’s gonna get hot.” Atsumu glances at you.

“If you’re gonna say something cheesy, I’ll have to stop you there.” You put up a stop motion with your hand while smiling like an idiot. 

“Oh? But it looks like you want me to continue,” the tall boy next to you chuckles softly. “It’s ‘kay, I lost my train of thought, actually.”

“Very Atsumu-like, indeed.” 

Atsumu drops you off at the front of your house, greeting your parents who were standing inside the gate. He was about to head home, but not before your mom ran up to inspect him up close. 

“You’ve gotten reeeeaaally tall mister,” your mom nods in satisfaction. “I didn’t get a good look at you when you were at our house the other day but my, my.”

“Hey brat,” Your dad covers your mom’s eyes comedically. “Why you eyein’ my wife, huh?” 

“No, sir.” Atsumu smiles back. “I only have eyes for your daughter.” 

_ Another smooth criminal.  _

You blush wildly when you finish registering what he just said. 

“HAH?” Your dad tries to act gangster but your mom knocks him upside the head.

“Knock it off, you idiot,” She scolds him. “Why can’t you act your age like Atsumu-kun here? You’re absolutely ridiculous.” 

“It’s nice to see you Atsumu-kun.” Translation:  _ Go home it’s getting dark your parents are probably getting worried. Go. Now. _

“Yes,” Atsumu bows respectfully to your parents. He leans down next to your ear. “I’ll see you tomorrow,  **m’lady** .” 

“Ah...yes.” You are certain you can compete with the tomatoes your mom was growing in the garden right now. 

* _ click _ *

The three of you watch until Atsumu disappears out of sight. Your mom starts yelling at the top of her lungs competing with your dad. You shake your head, cover your ears, and head inside the house. 

“Ooooooh, someone’s going through young love~” Your dad teases you.

“Remeber what I told you about love little girl,” Your mom tsks at you. “No falling in love because-” She shoots your dad a dirty look. “It gets reeeeaal disappointing.”

“Honey-”

“AH- I don’t wanna hear nothing from you.” Your mom stops your dad dead in his tracks. “Don’t you have a meeting tomorrow morning? Go, go, go home.” 

She proceeds to push him out the door. “I’ll see you for dinner tomorrow.”

Both you and your dad are surprised at her words. She hasn’t expected anything from him since you started 7th grade. 

“Of course, honey.” Your dad gives her a quick peck on the lips before running off, scared that she might hit him if he was too slow. 

“YOU-!!” She turns just as red as I was 2 minutes ago. “YOU RAT!!!” 

You laugh out loud. Your mom turns around, still red as a tomato, and bursts out into laughter with you. You couldn’t have asked for a better day. 

“ **Hey, baby?** ” Your mom calls out to you from the bottom of the stairs. You look back at her from the top of the stairs. 

“ **Yes, momma?** ” 

“ **Do you like Atsumu-kun?** ” She eyes you carefully, the light from the kitchen forms a soft halo around her body.

You stay quiet for a bit.

“ **I’m not sure.** ”

Your mom nods in response, turning away and going back into the kitchen. 

“ **Love isn’t as bad as it used to be, hm?** ” Your mom says from the kitchen. Maybe she was too embarrassed to say it directly to you.

“ **Not at all momma. Roses have thorns and it’s okay, right?** ” You didn’t need to stick around to hear her response, you already knew what it was.

When you went to sleep that night, you remember the warmth of Atsumu’s hand in yours. You toss and turn in your bed, watching the light that shined through your window. 

_ I miss him. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love yall lots as usual. Thank you for reading my first doo doo fanfic, hope everyone is having a fantastic day
> 
> (seeing Yua's parents make progress is heartwarming i will cry)
> 
> (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ


	11. Japanese Snacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where is the girl going?
> 
> READ THE END NOTES ITS WHIPPIN

After a hellish two weeks of constantly studying and maybe 48 hours of sleep in total, you finish your finals with flying colors. Except for your Japanese final. 88 is not flying colors in your dictionary, but you ignore that fact. It’s finally summer break and you get to go on vacation. Your relationship with Tsubaki has been getting worse and worse, but you act like nothing's wrong. You can feel Tsubaki giving you dirty looks and notice that she’s starting to hang out with other people for lunch. You find yourself alone on the last day of school, having small talk here and there with your other classmates. It felt weird. 

You decide to talk to Tsubaki one last time before you guys officially leave for summer vacation. 

“Hey, Tsubaki? Wanna go to that ice cream shop again?” You initiated the conversation. You had to go through the trouble of interrupting her conversation with another group of girls in the class and you weren’t about to return to your desk with no results.

“Uh...” she seemed to hesitate a bit. “Sure.” She reluctantly agrees and tells you to wait for her at the gate afterschool. She returns to talking with her new friends, brushing you off like you were a stranger. You felt hurt that she’s treating you like this, but you conclude that this must be partially your fault since you hang around the twins too much. 

You walk down to the gym to see if you can catch Atsumu and Osamu before they leave for training camp. Your thoughts started to wander off again and you were engrossed with it. All of a sudden, you felt gravity grabbing onto your legs a little stronger than before.

_ Oh, no. I’m falling- _

You close your eyes and brace yourself for the impact, but instead your intended hard impact with the floor turned into a slightly more comfortable plop into a rather comfortable arm. 

“Hey, you ok?” A familiar voice calls out to you. You open your eyes to see a pair of dark brown eyes looking back at you. Same smirk, same shine in his eyes. 

“Hey Atsumu. Thanks for catching me.” You smiled and gave his arm a little poke. “You can put me down now.”

*click*

He sets you down on your feet before asking what you were doing so absent mindedly, scolding you for being careless. 

“Heading to the gym to see you two idiots and the rest of the team before y’all leave. Duh.” You blushed slightly, realizing how stupid you must’ve looked, tripping over thin air. 

“I’ll walk with you. I was heading back there anyway.” He starts walking towards the gym. 

You ask him about his plans for the summer. He tells you that he’s not sure. Being the volleyball freak that he is, he probably only thought about training and keeping up his skills. You laugh and tell him that he should go out more, like to the beach and try playing with the people on the beach. He groans at the thought, telling you that beach volleyball is a pain in the ass because of the sand and wind. He didn’t want to think about excessive stuff like that. 

“Look who it is.” Aran calls out from inside the gym. “It's the love birds.”

“Don’t mess around, bro,” Suna punches him in the arm. “If Hamasaki-san hears you she might rip your head off.”

You laugh nervously in response. You can already picture her face if she saw you and Atsumu together. 

“Who cares about her,” Atsumu scoffs.

“Aw, don’t say that,” you try to make light of the conversation. “She’s still your girlfriend.”

“Only by name.” He winks at you. 

“I feel bad for your girlfriends in name, then.” 

_ Oh god my heart is going to fly out of my chest. Calm the hell down! _

You hold your breath and try to act as unsuspiciously as you can. You let out a sigh of relief when Atsumu finally walks away from your side and towards the court when someone caught his attention.

“Whatcha breathing so loudly for?” You jump at the voice that came from behind you.

“Sweet god, Osamu, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” You punch his arm slightly. 

“That ain’t my job.” Was what he said before heading towards Atsumu’s direction on the court. You watch as they start talking...then start yelling..then started fighting. You laugh and brush off what Osamu just said to you. Can’t afford to have a heart attack more than twice a day. You spend the rest of the school day with the team and say your goodbyes when they start packing up to leave for their training camp. 

“Come here for a bit?” Atsumu motions his hand for you to come over. 

“What do you want now.” You snap at him playfully. 

He pulls you into an embrace, wrapping his arms around you and resting them on your shoulders. You see the rest of the team turning away, saying something about forgetting their water bottle in their lockers. All of them did, apparently. Soon the gym was nearly empty, only leaving a few upperclassmen in the corner and, of course, you two. 

“Hey, listen to me,” Atsumu sounds awfully serious for being who he is. “Don’t worry about me while I’m gone.”

“Who the hell said I was gonna worry.”

“Shut up for a second, will ya, I’m tryna have a moment here.” He pats your head affectionately. “Uh...I’m not good at this at all.”

“Bro-” you try to pull back to look at his face but he presses your head back into his shoulder.

“Ok, ok,” he takes a deep breath. “Text me everyday? I want to know how you’re doing while I’m gone for a bit.”

“...” You were taken back by his request. He usually hated when girls are clingy. But that’s for girls that he isn’t interested in. You...you weren’t sure he felt the same way you felt. Not like you let it show or let it interfere with your day to day life. 

“Alright, I will.” You bring a hand up to return his hug, squeezing ever so slightly. A reassuring squeeze, a silent promise that you’d uphold your word. 

“‘Kay~ That’s all I wanted to say!” He pulls you back and gives you the same devilish grin he always has on his face. “Y’all can come back in now!”

“Awe it's over already?” Suna comes back in, the rest of the team in tow. 

“WHa-” You turn into Tomato Yua. “You were just listening in?! Ugh, I hate y’all.” 

_ And with that, your summer officially began.  _

\--------------------------

As promised, you texted Atsumu everyday after practice ended. You had a printout of the schedule, you had asked Atsumu to send a copy over so you knew when to text him and when to not bother him. You spent nearly everyday with the same routine. Wake up, check your phone for texts from Atsumu, eat breakfast, listen to music, watch anime, check social media, check for texts from Atsumu, eat lunch, text Atsumu, take your afternoon nap, check your phone for texts from Atsumu, eat dinner, facetime with Atsumu, sleep, and repeat. 

“Hey Yua, wanna go to Cali this summer?” Your mom asks you out of nowhere one day at dinner. Your dad looks up from his plate to see what your response would be.

“Uh...this is kinda random?” You were confused. Usually if your family wanted to go somewhere you guys would plan it for months in advance.

“Well. Your dad here,” your mom gives your dad a nasty look. “Has some business in the California branch of the company and wants you to shadow him while he works.” 

“Aha, honey, you didn’t have to look at me like th-”

Your mom gave him a “please be quiet” look.

“Sorry,” he mumbles and goes back to picking at his food. 

“I have to think about it,” you said, pushing your rice around on the plate. “I mean, Atsumu and Osamu are coming back soon and we have plans for the summer…”

“We’ll only be gone for 2 weeks, tops!” Your dad chimes in excitedly. He notices the look your mom was giving him and he immediately quiets down. “But of course it's up to you.” 

_ He’s sulking. _

“ **You gonna come with us, momma?** ” You look at your mom. She shakes her head and says that she has to look after your grandparents who live 30 minutes away. She adds that it might be a good idea for her to stay at their house for the duration of our trip, if you go. 

You think about it for a bit. You get to go back to Cali. See your friends, enjoy the weather, which would be much more enjoyable than the sweltering heat of Japan during mid June, and you might be able to squeeze in some Disneyland. And the beach!

“Ok. I’ll go with papa then.”

“Alright, we’re leaving in 2 days then,” your dad claps his hands. “I’m gonna get you a ticket, make sure you pack accordingly.” 

He gives your mom a peck on the cheek telling her he’s gonna go home to pack. She was still sulking and didn’t say a word. He continues kissing her cheek until she gives him a response. 

“Ok...OK! God, you’re so clingy.” You can tell your mom was trying hard not to laugh. You were used to PDA, both from your parents and Atsumu’s past incidents, so cheek kisses don’t faze you 

Your dad gives you a peck on the forehead and tells you that he’ll pick you up in 2 days. You wave goodbye and wait in the dining room, finishing up your dinner while your mom sees your dad out. 

“Ugh, finally. Peace and quiet.” Your mom opens up her arms and breathes in deeply. Over dramatic as usual, typical momma. You love this version of momma. 

“What should I pack?” You ask her as you place your dishes in the sink. You’ve never been on a trip overseas on such a short notice before. 2 days is kind of stretching it.

Your mom thinks about it before giving you an answer.

“ **Lots of Japanese snacks.** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi yall its me again ahaha
> 
> I would like to thank everyone who is reading this, thank you for all the support, you guys really got me through finals week. 
> 
> And to the people who leave comments and gives kudos, I always get giddy at 4AM when I get email notifs, y'all really do make my day (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡


	12. Ice Cream Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oof...just oof

As you pack up your necessities, you allow your mind to think about all that has happened since you entered Inarizaki high. Your short lived friendship with Tsubaki was the first thing that came to mind. You were hurt by her sudden coldness towards you, but you let it go, remembering what your mom told you about bad friends. Then you think about the volleyball team, how much you loved them and you were thankful for their massive role in helping you fit into your new environment. And naturally, your mind wandered to Atsumu, the boy that seemingly stole your heart.

_ I hate this. _

You hated being a fangirl and having one sided feelings. You knew more than anyone that Atsumu is a playboy, womanizer, and above all, a compulsive liar. You can’t let yourself fall for someone who’s so...unpredictable. Afterall, you still don’t know much about him. What he’s done, especially with other girls. You start feeling jealous just thinking about it. You depart from the thought and focus on packing again. 

* _ ding _ *

**Atsumu:**

**Hey, whats up?**

You pick up your phone and lower the music. You stare at the text, wondering if this really was a good time to be talking to him. You’re leaving tomorrow morning and you’ve only just started packing. 

_ Eh. It should be fine, we still have some stuff we left behind in Cali. If anything I’ll just go to the store and grab stuff. _

**Hii, how was practice today?**

You didn’t have to wait long for a response. 

**It was ok.**

**Im tired :(**

**Awee poor thing haha**

**does lil baby Tsumu need**

**a kissy?**

_ Shit, what the fuck are you thinking Yua you idiot- _

**Ooo is that an offer?**

**gladly ;)**

You feel your heart racing and your internal temperature rising. You desperately try to change the conversation. 

**I’m leaving for Cali tmr**

**its an emergency trip**

**well,,, emergency/busin**

**ess trip.**

A response from Atsumu didn’t come as quickly as possible. You start feeling bad, thinking about how he must feel having this information dropped on him all of a sudden. The three of you, Atsumu, Osamu, and you, promised to spend the summer together. At gaming centers, at each others’ houses, and at the beach. You feel bad for having to postpone your plans for an additional 2 weeks.

**Ok. have fun.**

You felt your heart drop. Periods while texting is never a good thing. You sigh and put your phone down to continue packing. You hear a familiar ding, your hand shoots out for your phone and immediately checks for a text from Atsumu.

**Tsubaki: u wanna facetime? I have something to show you <3**

You sigh in slight disappointment. You reply with a short answer. “Sure.” Soon enough, a facetime call came in. You take a deep breath and mentally prepare yourself for what new shit Tsubaki gotta throw at you. You haven’t talked to her since the last day of school when she asked you to get ice cream with her. It was not good, what happened at the ice cream shop. 

_ “I can’t believe summer vacation is already here,” Tsubaki sighs. “It’s soooo hot.”  _

_ “Yea...it's crazy hot here, isn’t it.” You laugh nervously, picking up your phone to try and take a picture of your ice cream...trying to distract yourself from the weird atmosphere. _

_ “Hey.” Tsubaki’s tone changed to a cold one. “Why are you ignoring me like I’m some stranger?” _

What the- you should be asking this question.

_ “What do you mean? I’m not the one who's doing the ignoring.” You couldn’t help but snap at her. You’ve had enough. _

_ “I can’t believe you’re doing this. You’re awfully shameless, aren’t you?” Tsubaki flips her hair behind her and crosses her arms across her chest. Leaning back on the chair. “Must be the American in you, how unsightly.” _

_ Your grip on your phone tightens. You place your phone down and look at her with a bewildered look. _

_ “You’re kidding me, right?” _

_ “No, I’m not.” Tsubaki spits back at you. “Do you know how embarrassing it is having to hear other people tell me about how you and Atsumu flirt behind my back?” _

_ You bite down on your cheek. And you are so ready to punch her in the face right now. _

_ “Miya-kun and I are friends, we are ONLY friends.” You emphasize the only part.  _

_ “Yea, right. Let’s see how long you can keep this up.” She looks outside the window before smirking. “You know, Yua-chan, you call myself a friend but...haha..some friend you are.” _

_ She slaps a bill on the table, “Don’t worry too much.” She gives you a sweet smile. You see the venom in her voice. “It’s just some advice from a friend to a friend. I wouldn’t want you to have a bad reputation at school, hm?” She picks up her bag and leaves the store. _

_ You sit there in the aftermath of it all, by yourself. You don’t even notice that your hand is starting to bleed from gripping onto the edges of your cracked phone too hard.  _

“Tadaaa~” Tsubaki appears on your screen holding a little keychain of some sorts. You couldn’t make out the shape of what it was, but you knew it was a keychain. 

“What is that?” You put your face a little closer to the screen. 

“I’m in Tokyo with the girls right now and I found us some cute keychains.” Tsubaki swings the keychain in front of the camera. You can see what they were now, two matching keychains. Dice shaped keychains. “Aren’t they just the cutest? The shop owner says they’re popular right now!”

“What happened to the one you bought us at the beginning of the year?”

Tsubaki goes quiet. “I lost them. Hehe, oops~” 

_ Snake. _

“Anyways, Yua-chan. There are some really cute boys in Tokyo, you shoulda come with us!”

“Hm, really? I didn’t hear about the trip.” 

“Next time, next time.” Tsubaki ignores your curt response. You didn’t have time for this shit. You still have to pack your bags.

“I gotta go pack,” you set your phone down so that it shows the ceiling. “I’m gonna hang up now.”

“Ehh? Where are you going? We just started!” Tsubaki objects. You pay no mind to her shallow whining. You knew it was just an act for her other friends.

“Going home tomorrow. Bye.” You hang up the call. You could care less for cute or courteous goodbyes. If she didn’t want to treat you like a friend, much less a person, then she can go eff herself. You finish packing most of your stuff and you pass out on the floor next to your suitcase. You didn’t notice Atsumu’s text that night.

“Yua, baby! Wake up, your dad is here!” 

_ Ugh...what time is it… _

You turn over and try to turn on your phone. Dead.

_ Shit _

You rush to the stairs and ask your mom what time it was. 3:00AM was the response. The flight is at 8:00AM and you have less than half an hour to get your stuff to make it to the airport on time. You hurriedly throw the rest of your stuff into your suitcase, brush your teeth, dig your portable charger out from your drawer, and grab your squishmallow. Ready to go. 

You stumble down the stairs with your stuff in hand, giving your mom a quick hug and kiss before dashing out the front door. Your dad is waiting in the cab. The cab driver did not look happy. You realize that you were completely bare faced and that all of your makeup was packed away in the bottom of your suitcase. 

_ Oh well, it’s not like I have anyone to impress. _

The drive to the airport was a long one. It was 3:00AM on a Sunday, most people were still sleeping so the streets were empty. You watch the lights and houses zooming by from the window of the cab. You notice your dad looking at you based on his reflection on the window. 

“ **What’s wrong, papa?** ” You ask him without looking back.

“ **Nothing. Just wondering if you’re nervous.** ”

“ **Maybe a little.** ” You admit. “ **I just want my phone to hurry up and charge, too.** ”

Your dad chuckles and asks the cab driver if he had a charger for your phone. The cab driver pulls out a cable and passes it to you, telling you that it’d charge your phone to 100% by the end of the trip. He did not disappoint. 

You arrived at the airport and marched through the check in process with your dad. When you sit down in your terminal, waiting for your flight to be called, you check your phone. 7:20AM, you still have about 20 more minutes until they start calling to board. You check your texts and social media. 

**Atsumu: 1 Notification Yesterday 11:56PM**

_ Ah...oops. _

You open the notification to see what he said to you. To your surprise, it was very like him to say something like that. 

**Can u get me something**

**from Cali?**

You chuckle and reply to him. 

**Ofc, whatchu want?**

**take your time, no rush**

You didn’t expect him to reply so fast, since he should be in the middle of eating breakfast, and if anyone knew the Miya twins, it’s that nothing comes in between them and their food. 

**Anything cute**

**mayb something that**

**resembles u would**

**b nice ;)**

**You want me dead by**

**Tsubaki’s hands**

**Haha, get me wtv**

**u want then**

**i gtg**

**alright, take care**

**next time u hear from me**

**i’ll b in Cali**

**haha, ok**

**have a safe flight <3**

The heart emoji threw you off. You were so focused on texting Atsumu that you didn’t notice your dad practically hissing at your phone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got Balance Unlimited's opening on REPEAT <(￣︶￣)>


	13. Run Before You Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo it be me and I'm back with another chapter

You arrive in California safely. You breathe in the clear air of Orange County. You missed this dearly. Your dad calls his chauffeurs to pick up your belongings. You guys leave the airport in two separate cars, one for your luggage, and one for just you and your dad. You stare out the window of your dad’s BMW. You look at the wide streets, the endless land and space. 

“It’s nice to see English on billboards again, hm?” Your dad asks you, eyes still on the road. 

“Very. I had trouble reading fast in Japan,” you laugh. You reach over to turn on the radio. “Hope they have good music this time.”

You arrive back at home within 30 minutes. Usually it would take less time but California traffic. Your first priority was to get some good boba and popcorn chicken from the boba joint near your house. You ask your dad if you can take the car promising that you’d be home quick. He tells you to go ahead and just to make sure to be home by 9PM. 

He knew you wanted to drive down to the beach. You plop yourself down on your couch and switch out your SIM card. As soon as your phone restarted, you texted all of your California friends and posted on your snapchat, announcing your arrival. You check to see if Atsumu had texted you while you were on your flight. Nothing.

“Ah, whatever. Let’s go get some good food.” You fly off the couch and into the driver’s seat of the car. How long has it been since you last driven? Your favorite thing to do were late night drives by yourself with some In-n-Out. You would find a nice spot, climb on top of the car and stare at the stars until one of your parents called you. 

You drive once again on the streets of California. You didn’t miss the traffic. When you got to the boba joint, you decided to sit inside for a bit. It wasn’t too awfully empty, as you expected it to be on a Monday night. As you grab your order and find a corner to sit in, you notice your phone’s notifications going off like crazy. You hurry and set your food down so you can silence your phone. 

**(10) Instagram 1h ago**

**(8) Snapchat 1h ago**

**(1) Atsumu 52m ago**

_ Holy… _

You unlock your phone to find that all of your California friends were absolutely thrilled that you were back for the summer. They all sent DMs about where to go and what to do, asking you how long you’re staying, and if you have time to catch up with them. You respond to their concerns, questions, and enthusiasm with warmth. Then you check Atsumu’s text.

**Atsumu:**

**u in Cali yet?**

**text me back when u can**

You hear your heart racing and feel the adrenaline pumping. You text back, telling him that you’re already home, you’re just out getting food for a bit. You decide that you should send pictures to update him. You switch to snapchat to take a picture with a cute filter because, god forbid, you’re not going to be ugly in a picture sent to THE Miya Atsumu.

You scrunch up at your picture. You had no makeup on and, in your opinion, look like an absolute rat, but bless the gods for the existence of snapchat filters. Catfish mode: on

You save the picture and switch back over to your text with Atsumu. And sent! Now you wait for his response. You added a geofilter on your picture to show him your location. You turn off your phone, wondering if he’s going to say something nice or something rude about it. You get self conscious thinking about whether or not you have overstepped your boundaries by sending a selfie, which is something you’ve never done before. You didn’t have to think much longer or harder as a string of notifications set your phone vibrating like crazy on the table.

**Atsumu:**

**haha still being fat in cali i see**

**dont let these boys see u**

**they gonna fall hard**

**i cant compete with the white folks**

  
  


**Stop it youre making me blush ///**

**dont lie u like it**

**shut up ugly >;(**

You wonder if the other customers in the boba shop think that you’re a weirdo the way you were literally falling out of your seat smiling at your phone like a psychopath. You do a quick scan and see a few people snickering quietly, looking in your direction. You blush even more from embarrassment.

_ It’s time to leave.  _

You stand up, food in hand, and exit the store. It’s already 6PM and the sun is setting. You figured that you should drive down to the beach. It’s not too far from where you are and you might be able to grab a nice spot to sit and listen to music. 

You drive down the streets, enjoying the fact that you don’t have to use your own legs to transport you places as much as you had for the past few months in Japan. You had your windows rolled down, enjoying the wind rushing past you. When you arrived at the beach, there were still quite a number of people, some just sitting by the waters, others taking a walk, and some groups having a barbecue. You park your car on the sand, a bit farther away from where most people are. 

You watched as the night sky swallowed the sun, bringing the day to a close. Allowing the breeze to wash over your weary body, you let out a sigh. It was rare for you to be left in a peaceful silence and let time flow without having to grapple with it for your own peace. You spend the rest of your 2 hours at the beach, not checking your phone once, instead, spending the time questioning the meaning of life and what you want to do next. When you’ve had enough of the peace and thinking, you set your mind on going back home and telling your dad that you want to participate in the company. It’s time you do some serious thinking about what you want to do for life. 

When you got home, your dad was waiting at the dinner table, you figured since you were father and daughter, you must share some sort of telepathic vibe and he got the hint that you wanted to talk about the business. He tells you it’s not something to be taken lightly, since it was Uncle Jin’s business and the best way to honor his life is to continue his legacy. You agree. Uncle Jin. Your mind wanders to what he had said before in your dream.

“Yua,” your dad interrupts your thoughts. “You know I’m not forcing you to do this, it’s just, it’s a good choice, if you’re unsure about what you want for your future. Mommy and I already figured stuff out for you. But we’ll support your decision no matter what you choose.”

“What if I want to be a stripper?” You ask jokingly.

“You might lose customers because I’m sure Mommy would beat them up at the door.” Your dad laughs and pats your shoulder. “Think about my offer and the company. Work starts Wednesday for you if you want to do it. I’m going to sleep early tonight, I have work tomorrow.”

He gives you a kiss on the forehead before leaving you to go to his bedroom. You sit alone at the dinner table. There is soft jazz playing in the background. Your family always leaves the TV on with one of those jazz playlists on youtube playing. You scroll through your phone, checking social media and texts. 

  
  


**Atsumu:**

**haha jk**

**u uglier**

_ Childish. _ You smile a little at his text. You were about to text him back when you got an incoming facetime call from your closest friend. Your homegirl, Ash. You picked up the call. 

“HEEEYYY GIRL WE MISSED YOU!!!” The voice on the other side exploded. She pressed her face close to the screen. You get a good view of her pixelated eyeballs. “WHERE YOU AT LETS GO GET IN-N-OUT!”

“God, Ash, already blowing out my ear like that?” You laughed.You moved to the couch and layed down, arms extended, holding the phone up. You made kissy faces at Ash. “Missed you too bitch.”

“Oh my god, like, we’ve been so busy with school we haven’t kept in touch, isn’t that crazy?” 

“Good thing it’s summer.”

“Bitch!! Wait,” She started laughing hysterically. Slapping her phone screen with her hand. “Did you see David’s post on snap yet? Remember Chris? They were playing truth or drink and David asked him if he still likes you and-” She bursts into another laughing fit.

_ Aw hellll naw, anyone BUT Chris.  _ The only thing you remember about him was the snotty brat he was back in elementary school who used to make fun of your name, despite going to the same middle school and freshman year of high school with him, you didn’t have a single recollection of what he had been like in your recent years.

“HE TOOK A SHOT INSTEAD OF ANSWERING!” She starts hooting on the other side of the phone, nearly bursting your eardrums again for the 3rd time in the duration of 2 minutes.

“Ok, you know I’ve never liked that snotty brat,” you objected, while watching the bottom of Ash’s chin while she looked at something to her left.

“Girl.” Ash started with her sassy tone, squinting at the camera now. “You must be blind if you’re telling me you don’t remember the way he used to give you the googly eyes in freshman year.”

You did remember him looking at you in the hallways but you figured that was him trying to start shit, so you did your best to ignore him. 

“Ehhh, kinda?”

“Ok, but, listenlistenlisten” Ash continued, you hear the enthusiasm in her voice. Her voice does this little thing where it goes from 0 to 100 in terms of volume when she REALLY doesn’t want to be interrupted.

“I am listening.”

“Ok, shut up, listen- Homeboy is CUTE. Like. CUTE. All the girls at the school has him as their #1 on their to-do list.”

“Ew.”

“Heyy, don’t cross him out until you’ve seen him.”

“Send a picture.”

“Just follow him on Instagram, I’m sure he’d be whipped out of his mind.” She giggles. You think she forgot that you don't have a personal Instagram account, you just had your foodies account.

You spend the next 10 minutes talking about nothing important, mostly answering her questions about what it's like being in Japan again. You tell her that kids over there are nothing like kids in America. They’re all good kids. Except for Tsubaki. Ash asked about if you found a cute boy in Japan, however, you didn’t want her to pester you about sending pictures of Atsumu and asking about what his body count, etc. so you opted out by saying you’re asexual.

“You’re telling me their rice purity scores are all above 80s?” She asks with serious doubt in her tone. 

“Probably,” you shrug even though no one was there to see it. 

“Ugh, I can’t stand good kids. But umm, that Tsubaki-bitch? You have questionable choices when it comes to making friends.” 

“Technically I’m still in the 80s for my rice purity score too, but. Yea that how should I deal with Tsubaki? She keeps trying to pin the blame on me for her failed relationship which is obviously due to her own incompetence!!!” You really went off.

“Give her a VIP ticket to your roasting sessions,” Ash pokes at the camera with her finger. “Or better yet just straight up whoop her ass, don’t act like you’re nice, I know you ain’t.”

You rolled your eyes at her. She wasn’t wrong but that didn’t mean violence was the answer. 

“I found him!” You exclaimed once you found Chris’ instagram profile. You had to go through multiple people to find him and the results were absolutely disappointing. He was...alright. He’s never been your type. You can’t deny that he had a glow up in the past few months that you’ve been gone, but. Still not your type.

“Ain’t he kinda cute now?” Ash asks excitedly. 

“If you think he’s that cute, why don’t you go for him?” You taunted her. 

“I’m sure he only has his sights set on you. Heard he’s still a virgin, ain’t that crazy?” She whispered into the phone. “Summertime is the best time, sis. Like that Katy Perry song…what was it? California Girls.”

“Ugh! Ash! I’m trying to keep my rice purity score above 80!” You pretended to throw up while she batted her lashes at you.

“Fine, fine.” You hear someone calling for her in the background. “Oh, my boyfriend is here. Imma head out now! Want me to pick you up?”

You look at the clock on your wall. 11:46PM. You’d get grounded if you tried to leave the house now. You politely decline her offer and say that you have something to do early tomorrow. She sighs in disappointment and swears that she’ll drag you out of the house again one day to a party. 

“What about Friday? Heard Kelly and Matt are having a party down at their beach house.” She suggested. More like demanded for you to go.

“Those rich kids? I’ll think about it.” You didn’t really like their vibes. But being seniors this year, their parties are rumored to be the best in the area. The hotspot for underaged drinking.

“Come on, we’re practically juniors. I don’t know how school works in Japan, but to me, you’re a junior and juniors are wild!!” 

“Ok, ok, I’ll tell you by tomorrow night. Imma sleep, goodnight.” You exchanged a few more profanities with Ash before you hang up. 

_ Party, hm? Guess it won’t hurt to have a little bit of fun. _

Wednesday came in a blink of an eye. You had spent the entirety of Tuesday out at the mall shopping for clothes because you didn’t have any clothes that were appropriate for office work. You did one last turn in front of the mirror before heading downstairs to meet your dad and driver in front of the house. Your dad was glancing at his wrist watch nervously, eyeing the clock as the minute hand moved closer to 12 and the seconds ticking down to 9AM. 

“Oh, thank god.” He lets out a sigh of relief. “Let’s go. Can’t be late on your first day, right?”

“On the contrary-” you started but got distracted by how terrible walking around in heels felt like. 

“Well, you can either shadow or I can let you try secretary work. You can try walking before trying to run or try running right off the bat, which one are you up for?”

“What a funny question,” you smile at the tall building in front of you. “Running, of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on our way for something absolutely horrifyingly terrible, and I'm rolling out the red carpet for it right now. It's my first work, I will probably hate it when I see it again in a few months but, I try my hardest to make it slightly entertaining. 
> 
> Thank you my luvs ٩(◕‿◕)۶


	14. Vodka in The Moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These chapters getting longer and longer akekekek

Your job at the company was fairly easy. Your dad had you shadow the current secretary, but reminded her to let you handle a portion of the work so you could get a feel for the job. You enjoyed your duties. It wasn’t too awfully hard or nerve wrecking, you tended to focus more on the social aspect of your job, finding joy when you got to meet clients and coworkers within the building. You floor was on the same floor as your dad’s, just in a separate room. You love the view of the city as you ride up the elevator. 

“Hey, kiddo.” Your dad knocks on the door to the room in which you were working. “Wanna go grab lunch together? It’s Friday, so everyone is getting off early.” 

You glance at the clock. 10 till 3PM. You still have a few more documents to process before you can clock out. You asked your dad if he can just wait on the couch in the room while you finish filing the last few papers.

“Wow, you’re really like a secretary now.” Your dad laughs and settles down on the leather couch to your left facing the right wall. He looks out at the wide window behind you, watching as the clouds pass by. You had soft jazz playing on your desktop. The only sound that could be heard was the keyboard clicking. You finish filing by the time the clock struck 3PM. You gather your belongings and head down to the car with your dad. 

He takes you to an italian restaurant nearby because you said you were craving angel hair pasta. You didn’t get the chance to have some since last year and you needed some. Badly. As your meal finished up, you remember Ash’s vehement request for having your presence at that beach house party tonight. You were hesitant to ask because you weren’t sure what sort of reaction your dad would have towards his 17 year old daughter going to a party that late at night, but you ask anyways. 

“Party?” His eyes widen and he starts fake whimpering and raising his voice. “B-but, my little girl, who’s going to be there!! I can’t let these boys have you!”

You shushed him frantically. “DAD, PLEASE! I’m going to die of embarrassment if someone starts laughing.” 

“Ok,” he calms down a bit. “Who’s going to be there, in all seriousness.”

“Uhh, Ash is going. I’ll stick to her side the entire time I promise.” You put your right hand up, and a hand over your heart to show your dad your most sincerest promises. “And I’ll have Robert come pick me up when I want to go home.”

“You might want to come home when the sun rises and I can’t have that,” your dad crosses his arms and furrows his brows. He’s not angry, more like worried. But not for the reason you thought it was. “If your mother finds out about this…”

He shudders. You laugh and assure him she will not find out about your party going antics.

“Alright, missy. Robert will pick you up at 12AM whether you like it or not.” 

“Aww, but dad, parties usually start at 10!!” You gave him puppy eyes. 

He blocks his eyes and whisper-shouts “Ahh! It’s too bright!!” before telling you that your curfew can be extended to 1:00AM but that's it. You get up out of your seat to give him a hug while expressing your never ending gratitude. You finish the rest of your lunch talking about work, how you’re adapting to office life, whether or not you like it enough to take over the company one day. You really loved the office as well as all of the employees. You loved everything about it.

When you get home later that day, you collapse on your bed out of exhaustion from a long day at work. Friday’s are a double-edged sword. On one side, you have the luxury of getting off early at 3PM, and on the other, you have the pressure of not being able to complete work on time. 

_ I just want to sleep.... _

*ding*

**Atsumu:**

**hellllooooo??**

**are u dead or somethin**

**call me ik ur awake**

**LOL**

**sorry ive been busy**

**too busy for me??!**

**im hurt :(**

**oK OK im calling**

You tapped on the facetime button. You took a second and cringed at how hideous you looked, even though you were wearing makeup, your eyeliner kind of smeared on your lower eyelids. You quickly wiped the smear marks with your finger, fortunately finishing before Atsumu picked up the call. 

“What’s up, look who finally decided to call me.” He smirked at you playfully, tapping his front camera with his finger.

You feel your face getting increasingly red. You point your camera up so he would just see the top of your head. 

“Stoppp, you’re making me blush-!”

“Haha, blushing this early?” 

“Please change the topic.” You groaned.

“Ok, whatcha been up to for the past few days?” 

You started to tell him about the time you’ve spent at the company, all the friends you’ve met again during the past few days. Rant about how much you love California weather. He listens to you talk without interrupting once. 

“Hmmm, I wanna go to California too, after hearing you talk about it so much.” He propped his phone up against his bed frame so he wouldn’t have to hold it. He had his volleyball in his lap.

“Haha, I’ll take you next time,” you said. You didn’t think much of it, but he changed your mind reaal quick.

“For real?!” He sat straight up from his slouching position, eyes wide. You swear you could see sparkles coming from his eyes and an ethereal glow emitting from his body. 

“Uh-”

“I won’t let you go back on your word. Swear on it! That you’ll take me.” He holds out his pinky, pushing you to do a pinky promise with him. 

You hesitate a bit, surprised by his sudden but very serious request. You raise your pinky finger to match his. “Ok. One day, I promise.”

You ask him how volleyball camp went. He started complaining about how many people failed to hit his sets and how pissed he got over it. He ranted on and on before stopping and asking if you were getting bored. In all honesty, you loved when he did his little acts, over exaggerated words, and his loud, but cute reactions.

“Not at all, I am Inarizaki’s manager, I was supposed to be there but I'm choosing to be a little irresponsible this summer.” You give him a wink. There’s no way in hell you’d tell him that you enjoyed this talk because he’s cute. Over your dead body.

“Ah..” He covers his face with both of his hands.

“What’s wrong?” You were confused about his strange reaction. You start teasing him. “Are you getting emotional?” 

“Yea,” he fake cries. “Oi, Samu! Can ya believe Yua winked at me? I’m going to remember this moment forever.” 

You hear “Shut up Tsumu, drama queen” from somewhere in the room. You watch as Atsumu proceeds to kick the top bunk and tell Osamu to “go get a life”

“We live the same life. Literally.” 

You hear Atsumu try to refute Osamu’s point, but ultimately fail. You giggle at their usual exchanges before mentioning to Atsumu that you’re going to a party later tonight. 

“Whaaa? Like one o’ those American parties? Like in the movies?”

“I don’t think so. It’s probably just a normal party.”

It was just like Atsumu said. It was the epitome of underaged drinking in American movies. There were maybe a hundred people crammed in a single beach house. The only redeeming factor was that the house has a porch, so you found your sanctuary there, breathing in the night’s cool, distinctively salty beach breeze. Ash had left you to go grind on one of her victims. Poor soul. You hope he doesn’t have a girlfriend because earlier that night you’d already witness a fight break out because some guy  _ glanced  _ in the general direction of another guy’s girl. 

_ Sigh. _ It wasn’t even 12AM yet and you already want to go home. You managed to quietly slip out onto the porch under everyone’s radar. There weren't many people on the porch right now. Only a few couples making out here and there. A Travis Scott song came on inside the house so mostly everyone raced back into the mosh pit. 

You felt a tap on your shoulder. 

“Beautiful night, hm?” You heard a deep male voice say. You turn your head up to meet the mysterious figure who dares interrupt your moment of peace. Your eyes meet the amber eyes that belonged to the figure that appeared before you.

“Yes…” You weren’t quite sure who the guy was, but you gave him a half assed response in hopes that he’d take the hint and leave you alone. 

“Yua, right?”

Your attention was earned when he mentioned your name. 

“You know,” You turned your head slightly in his direction and raised an eyebrow at him. “Most guys would say something along the lines of, ‘you look like someone I know’ instead of spitting out their name, yenno?”

“Haha, well, I  _ do _ know you so..”

“There must’ve been a one-sided meeting somewhere down the line because I never caught your name?” You chuckle at his nervous response. You went back to gazing up at the night sky with the wind softly tousling your hair. You swirled your cup of vodka leisurely.

“It's Chris.” He paused and looked at you with curious eyes. Dark brown eyes that sparkled amber in the moonlight. “You don’t...remember me?”

“Ah, I expected this.” You scoffed and crossed your arms across your chest, fully facing him now. “I knew Ash was up to something being so insistent about me attending some frat party.”

“Oh, haha..” He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his head nervously, eyes now focused on the ground. “Was it that obvious?”

“A little. Don’t be nervous. How have you been?” Of course you haven’t forgotten his poor behavior back in 1st grade, but you hoped that a good 10 years of not interacting would yield great results. 

“Uh, I’m good. What about you?” He propped an elbow up on the railing. “Heard you moved back to Japan. That explains why you’ve been missing from our beloved high school.”

“Glad you’ve done your research.” You place your crossed arms on the railing and look up at the moon. “Japan is a lot hotter than California. It feels nice being back home, though.”

“Hey,” he touches your arm gently, causing you to flinch back a little. “I need to say something.”

“...what is it?” You cock your head to one side, urging him to continue. 

“I’ve always wanted to apologize... for making fun of your name all those years ago. It never sat well with me since then..” he trailed off into a silence. 

“I’ve been thinking about you since forever and I’ve always been too scared to apologize to you. Especially since I’ve always been such a snotty brat, haha.” He rubs the back of his head nervously.

_ Took the words right out of my mouth. _ You thought to yourself.

“It’s fine-” You started saying, but he cut you off.

“I tried to improve myself in every way I can! To make it up to you. I even started working out more and I’m on the varsity team for football! The coach says I’m a promising quarterback.” He flashes his white grin at you, which just seemed to shine all the brighter in the moonlight. 

“Oh, well,” you didn’t quite know how to respond. This was like he was confessing to you. You didn’t want to say ‘oh that's nice’. You pat his arm.

“It’s ok, I’ve forgotten about the incident years ago.” You reaaally wanted to change the topic. You took a sip of your vodka before asking him more ice breaker questions. “How’s school? How are you doing?”

He seems a bit disappointed that you didn’t want to give a straight response to his confession, however he still tells you about how he’s doing. How school is. How he went from the snotty brat he was to the high school’s rising quarterback star. You tease him, saying that you’ve heard all the rumors about the girls who chase him. 

“Haha, that’s a lil too much,” he chuckles. He stays quiet for a bit. You start feeling awkward again so you had to choice but to ask him what's wrong. 

“I was wondering if I could get your number?” He suddenly gets flustered. “O-oh! For us to like, yenno, uhh...keep in touch?”

You were in shock for a bit. The snotty brat you once knew grew up to be a tall, handsome, well-mannered, every-girl-in-the-world-would-love-to-fall-in-love-with-him, blonde, quarterback star. You giggle before agreeing. As soon as you guys exchanged phone numbers, you could see the sparkles forming in his eyes. He was so whipped to have your number. 

He turns his head towards the door to the porch. Someone was waving at him to come back in. 

“That’s my cue. I’ll text you later?” 

“Sure.”

He holds your hand, pulling it up to his face, he gives your hand a gentle kiss. You stand there in shock, with the moon and the stars as your witness. He looks at you in the eyes and mouths “I’ll see you later.”

You continue standing there in shock long after he’s left. It wasn’t until Ash came out a moment later that you snapped out of it. 

“Bitch I saw everything. Ya nasty animal!!” She punches your arm playfully, but a little too hard. She was drunk already.

You look at her, the shock still on your face. 

“I think....you weren’t wrong about him liking me.”

“Duh, I’m never wrong,” she slips her hair behind her ear. She glances at the red cup in your hand, scrunching her nose. “And, you need another drink.”

She puts an arm around your shoulder and leads you back into the house, all while ranting about how much of a gentleman he’s become. Especially how nice he is now. 

_ Turns out she ended up wrong about something after all. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get mighty unmotivated because I keep thinking of more stories that I can write, but I doubt I can start a new one when this one isn't even close to the end yet (￣▽￣*)ゞ
> 
> BUT ITS ALL THANKS TO YOU GUYS THAT I CARRY ON. Thank you so much for all the kudos and comments, they really push me to write more knowing that there's someone on the other side of the screen reading my poorly written stories 
> 
> (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡ i wuv yall


	15. Chris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date night with another boy???? Yua, child please, just be with Atsumu ;-;

It’s already Wednesday. You are to fly back to Japan on Sunday and it would mark the end of your extremely short trip back home to California. But your mind isn’t on the hot summer heat, eating popsicles outside of a small convenience store, seeing Atsumu, dealing with summer assignments, or having to entertain Tsubaki. Your mind was on the date you’re about to go on with Chris. 

“Yua? Have you finished filing the pile I assigned you this morning?” Your boss, the current secretary, asks you, eyeing the documents on your desk. She probably noticed you staring blankly at your screen for the past...30 minutes. 

“Uhh…” You look at the pile of documents sitting in front of you. “Almost done.”

“Hmm, well. Mr. Aoyama told me to send you to his office once you’re done.” She picks up her Burberry bag from her seat. “Make sure you go see him. I’m heading out for the day.”

You look at the clock on your desktop. “It’s only 2PM? You’re leaving so early today.”

“My son has a volleyball tournament later today.” She smiled. “I figured I should come home and pick up the rest of the kids and make some lunch for them before heading to his school.”

“Alright, have a good day.” You waved at her as she exited the room. Leaving you alone with the pile of work that you haven’t touched yet.

_ Sigh. _

4:30PM. You pick up your bag and log out of your desktop. You head to your dad’s office. When you get there, you expect him to be seated and working, but instead, you see him passed out on the couch. 

You set your bag down on the floor and sit next to him, poking his cheek. He looks so peaceful sleeping like this. You notice the wrinkles that have formed on your dad’s face, realizing that your parents aren’t getting any younger. You’re grateful that they’ve gotten their relationship together. You would want nothing to take away this happiness that your family has regained. You wonder how your mom is doing back in Japan. It’s been a few days since you last texted her. She did call you the night before for you to greet your grandparents so you assume everything is fine. 

You pull out your phone to take a picture of your dad sleeping with his mouth open and send it to your mom. 

_ She’ll love this. _

“Yua?” Your dad croaks wearily, sleepiness still heavy in his voice. 

“What’s up, papa. How’s your nap?” You grin down at him, resting your chin in the palm of your hand. 

“Haha, very funny.” He groans before sitting up. “You better not have sent a picture to your mother.”

You look away, the guilt showing on your face. “I would never!” 

He pulls you into a hug before standing up and telling you it's time to go home. As you leave the building, it occured to you that you have a date at 7PM at City Center. You think about if you should lie and say that you’re going out with Ash or tell him the truth, that you’re going on a date with Chris. 

“Hey, dad,” you started. Hesitating because you didn’t want to create a weird atmosphere in the car. “How would you feel if I went to grab dinner tonight with a friend?”

“That sounds mighty suspicious.” Your dad asks you, not taking his eyes off of the file he had in hand. “Which friend? Boy? Girl?”

“Uhh, boy.” You confessed.

He snaps the file shut and grabs your face, smushing your cheeks together. “NOO!!! Robert!! Did you hear that?!”

The driver glances in the rearview mirror at your dad who’s practically in tears. He glances at you and shakes his head. 

“My baby!!! How could you leave your papa like this! It seemed just like yesterday you were asking me if you could marry me and now-!!!”

“Dad, pleash,” you were not impressed and your cheeks were starting to hurt. “You’re going to kill me.”

He finally lets go of your face. “Which boy? Where does he live? What does his parents do? Does he have a 4.5GPA? My daughter cannot date idiots.”

“It’s..” You hesitated. You remembered all the times you’ve antagonized over Chris and now you’re about to go on a date with him. You mentally facepalm at your own bipolarness. “It’s Chris.”

“Come again?” 

“CHRIS. It’s Chris. That snotty brat I always shi- I mean, trash talked about.”

“Ew,” your dad sounded like a child. “Of all the boys in California, no, THE WORLD, you chose him?”

“Unfortunately, I agreed thinking that I could get out of it.”

“Gurl. You trippin’” Your dad switches to his sassy, trying to be cool voice.

“That was so cringey, please never do that again.” You start laughing. 

“Ok, but Robert is taking you. And staying there to keep an eye on you.” Your dad was headfast about this. His tone showed that there were going to be no arguments. 

“Isn’t that a little too much? Having a third party at a hangout for two?” 

“Yua,” Your dad grabs your shoulder, you can see the fire burning in his eyes, “If he touches you IN ANY WAY, I don’t care. NO PREMARITAL SKINSHIP. I will chop off his hands and feed them to the dogs at home. I will SUE his family into the ground!!” 

“Ok, well, good luck with that papa.” You deadpanned.

“Robert, she doesn’t love me anymore!!”

“Sir, you’re exaggerating.” 

You listened to your dad’s incessant wailing for the rest of the ride home. At one point, out of desperacy to stop you from leaving his side, he threatened to call your mom, but you managed to snatch the phone out of his hand before he could dial momma. When you got home, he insisted that he chose your outfit for tonight. 

“Papa.” you took a look at yourself in the mirror. Doing a spin, twisting and turning, to see how you looked. 

“These are rags. I look like someone wearing their dad’s clothes.”

“Yes, I got these from my closet, it’s my home clothes. 100% boy proof, I promise you no man would ever look at you while you’re wearing my clothe-” He said proudly.

You punch him in the arm before he could finish his sentence. “Can you PLEASE leave so I can find an acceptable outfit. I promise it’ll be acceptable.”

Your dad finally resigns after trying to argue with you about what is boy proof and what wasn’t. You dug through the clothes that you brought with you. After searching for 10 minutes, you finally found an acceptable outfit. You decided to wear your Inarizaki Volleyball Team T-shirt and olive green shorts. The shorts that weren’t too short and weren’t too tight. With sneakers. You had your hair down. 

“Dad, how’s this?” You stepped out from behind your room’s door. 

“Can’t you wear long pants?” Your dad whimpers.

“No, it’s hot.” 

“Ok, fine, It’s fine.” He crosses his arms and pouts. He opens up his arms. “Come here, honey.”

You enter his embrace and return it. 

“Be careful. But most importantly, have fun, ok? Even though your poor papa will be crying at home, just have fun....If you need anything don’t hesitate to call me.” He lets you go, hands still on your shoulders, inspecting you. “My little girl grew up so much.” 

“Papa you’re gonna make me cry my mascara off.”

“Oh, but I did put a taser in your bag for you. And pepper spray! I don’t know if you need a pocket knife but I can go grab one-”

You put a hand up in a stop motion. “No, on the contrary, I think the taser and pepper spray are more than enough.”

And with that, your dad finally agrees to let you go on your way. Strict curfew is 9PM. He was very clear when he said if you were even one minute late, you would be grounded for the rest of the summer in Japan. You do not intend to be back home late tonight. 

\---------------

“You can drop me off here, Robert.” You pick up your purse, heavy with the pepper spray and taser, and get ready to exit the car. When you got off, you smelled the barbecue in the air. Whatever they were cooking in whichever restaurant made your mouth water. You scan the area to see if you can find Chris. Your eyes finally land on his tall figure leaning against a wall across the street from you. You watched as all the girls who walk by him make double takes.

He was wearing a black tee with ripped jeans, his hair was a little messy, like he just ran his hand through it and...is that a chain? You couldn’t tell, but you wouldn’t be surprised if it was. His outfit was pretty typical for boys around his age to wear but his face, stature, and height was what really made him stand out in the crowd.

_ Guess they must be jealous wondering if some beauty is going to show up to pick up her man. Unfortunately, it’s just me. _ You shrugged mentally, letting a sigh slip through your lips.

You call out his name and wave at him. His face lights up and starts walking towards you like a little puppy. He gives you a big hug once you are within arm’s reach. 

“Glad you could make it,” He smiled at you warmly. Complimenting your outfit. “Let’s head to the restaurant before we’re late for our reservation.”

“Reservation?” You thought that you guys were just going to eat at some fancy burger joint or maybe an Italian restaurant at best. But  _ reservation _ ? He really went all out this time. You mentally curse at yourself for underdressing. 

Once you guys were seated at the restaurant, he talked to you about everything and nothing, continuing conversations that were left hanging from the party. You didn’t feel awkward around him anymore, you were starting to get comfortable. A little too comfortable. 

“Are you staying here for long?” He asks you. “I was hoping to take you to Disneyland and stuff one day.”

“How bold of you,” you chuckle as you placed down your fork and knife, giving up on the huge steak that he ordered for you. “I’m going back on Sunday, actually.” 

“Oh…” He sounded a little disappointed in your response. He really seemed to have wanted to spend more time with you. 

“I’ll be sure to visit again next summer.” You reassured him, laughing awkwardly, not sure if your answer was adequate enough. 

“That’s so long,” he whined. “How about I take you to another party this Friday? One last one before you leave?”

“Uh...I don’t know about that.” You answered truthfully. You didn’t know what time your flight was going to be on Sunday and you definitely did not want to miss it. 

“I’ll make sure Ash comes.” He flashes you a toothy grin. He stops for a second, the smile already faded from his face. 

“What’s wrong?” You ask him cautiously. 

“I just think you look really beautiful tonight. And I really do mean it, I want to see you again before you leave.” He breaks out into a wide smile, a smile that nearly split his face in half and blinded you in the process. You blush from not being able to handle any sort of compliment. He reaches over the table and pats your head affectionately before calling for the check. 

You felt guilty all night. You initially rejected his request for you to be at the party but, wherever you guys went, he still refused to let you pay, even though you were almost 100% certain that you had made him disappointed earlier, he insisted on spoiling you tonight. You couldn’t bring yourself to see him as a snotty brat like you had before when the night came to an end. 

-8:30PM-

“Hey, Chris? I really have to head home now.” You look up at him. You guys were laying in the grass gazing at the night sky. There were no stars to be seen due to all the bright lights that surrounded you.

“Aw,” he sits up, propping himself up with his elbows. “Already?”

“Yea, I have a curfew.” You accept his hand and get up on your feet. “I had a good time tonight, thanks.” 

He seemed a little disappointed. Like a sad puppy. You giggle a bit. Your arm seemed to have moved on its own because one second, your hand was still in his hand from when he helped you up, and the next, you were running your fingers through his hair. The way the lights made his golden hair shine enticed you. 

“Have I finally caught your attention?” He grabs the hand that is running through his hair gently and brings it down to his lips. “I couldn’t help myself when I heard that you were coming back from Japan. I’m glad you’re here.”

You didn’t say anything in response. You just smiled at him. It must’ve been a sad smile because he looked at you worridley, the concern showing on his face. 

“I’m going to go now,” you turn your back to him. “I’ll catch you later.”

As you get into your car, you glance back at him. He waved at you, shouting at you to not forget about his offer to go to the party this weekend. You return his wave as the car drives away.

You stare outside the window at the passing lights, enjoying the city view at night. You feel a slight blush rising to your cheeks. 

_ I must be out of my mind. I wonder what Atsumu will think about this. _

* * *

**Hey guys, it's me again. So the next chapter is going to be the end of season one ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶ I am editing the next chapter as we speak and are yall are in for a ride. It'll be uploaded by 2AM (CDT) on May 10th, which is basically within the next two hours if yall in Texas like me, hehe. See ya soon ♡**


	16. The Tale of The Sleeping Beauty (End of Season 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !!! WARNINGS !!!
> 
> This chapter is going to have some very dark themes so please proceed with caution...

“Uh huhh, so you’re telling me you didn’t even kiss?!” 

“Jesus, Ash, none of that premarital kissing in this holy household.” 

You were on facetime with your best friend, again. This time, she was grilling you about your date with Chris earlier in the week. She claimed that she figured out it was Chris from the short boomerang you posted on Instagram for your food account, saying, “I could tell who’s bracelet that was from anywhere.”

“Are you really going to go with me on Friday?” You asked Ash, honestly concerned about having to go alone with just Chris.

“I wish you would just go alone and get it on with Chris, but finee,” She rolls her eyes at you. “If it takes me having to go to a fire party for you to get together with a cute boy, then anything for my homegirl.”

You thought long and hard about this for a long time but, you figured you should tell Ash that you HAVE a love interest and it’s not Chris. Although, Chris is as cute as what everyone else said.

“Ash, I actually...like someone,” you said slowly, pointing the camera up to the ceiling. You were too embarrassed to say it to her face. “And it’s someone from Japan.”

You were sure the entire state of California could hear her “WHAT” echoing through the air. She starts punching her phone and screaming about how cruel you were to not have told her sooner.

“YOU BITCCH!!” She puts her camera super close to her face. “How absolutely DARE you not tell me!? Now I look damn stupid for trying to hook you up with Chris. Is he cute? Cuter than Chris? Tall? Taller than Chris? He has to be smarter than Chris there’s no way he’s not.”

You laugh in response to her barrage of questions which set her off on another screaming fit about how you’ve betrayed her and your friendship. 

“He’s cute. He’s tall. And I think he’s smart, I don’t know,” you were really doubting Atsumu here. “But whatever he lacks in academics, he makes up in volleyball.”

“Oh wow, he plays volleyball? Like for the school or as a hobby at lunch?” Ash teases you, since you used to play volleyball too but only as a hobby. At lunchtime. 

“For the school,” you shake your head and roll your eyes. “I’m pretty sure there are All Japan teams that are scouting for him and stuff, I’ve heard rumors about it when I was working for the team.”

“Ok, I wholeheartedly support your decision. That’s a big fish you got there, Yua you sneaky rat!!” Ash “oohs” and “aahs” at your description of Atsumu. She proceeds to ask for a picture, just what you expected. 

“Uh.. I actually don’t have any pictures of him.” You confess. You felt embarrassed for not having a picture of your crush. Just as you were about to tell her to just give up because he doesn’t have an instagram either, you hear the notification ding. Curious at what it was, you swiped down on your screen and see that it was Tsubaki and Osamu who sent you texts at the same time. 

“Hold up, I think I got tea,” you tell Ash to hush up. She loves drama, so she gladly complied. 

You checked Osamu’s message first. 

**Osamu:**

**u might not like this but**

**i dont like tsubaki so ima tell u**

**she just dragged sumu off on a date**

**like 30 mins ago**

You scream out loud and spill out a bunch of gibberish from your mouth, in an attempt to inform Ash of what was going on. Somehow, she understood your alien language, yelling at you and throwing profanities left and right. 

“WAIT, I got a message from Tsubaki too, hold up, let’s see what she wants” you cackle and hurriedly open Tsubaki’s texts. You expected her to be saying some dumb stuff like buying you guys more matching keychains or cute things because “you’re her best friend”. You were certain that you were going to enjoy whatever she decides to throw at you this time.

Instead, you were frozen. The sound of Ash’s estatic voice telling you to hurry and tell her what Tsubaki sent you seemed to fade out into background noise. You heard the blood pumping in your body and felt the blood draining out of your face. Your heartbeat was picking up at a rapid pace. What Tsubaki sent were a series of pictures of her and Atsumu. One of them holding hands. One of her holding onto his arm. One of them...kissing. You felt the bile rise in your throat. 

“Ash, I don’t feel good,” you heard your voice crack. 

“Yua? What’s wrong? What happened?” All the fun and games in Ash’s voice disappeared when she heard yours. A horrified and panicked voice replaced her usual cheery tone. 

“She sent pictures of her and Atsumu on a date. They were holding hands and being close and kissing and I...I just-” you felt yourself starting to go into panic mode, your breath became short and quick. 

“Nuh uh, no no no, Yua listen to me bitch. Breathe. Breathe!! It’s okay, she’s just trying to mess with you. Come back to the camera,” Ash was trying her hardest to calm you down before you get a panic attack. You switched back to the facetime call. Tears threaten to roll off your face.

“Oh baby,” she frowns at you. “Don’t be sad, I promise it’ll be okay. I wish I was there to give you a hug right now.”

“I want a hug later,” you use the back of your hand to wipe off the tears in your eyes. “I’m definitely going to the party. I don’t care anymore.”

You were so angry at Atsumu. The guy who stole your heart and made you believe that he was going to be there for you when you needed him. Seeing your childhood friend and love interest kiss the same person who’s done nothing but bring you down made your heart sink. You wanted to tell Atsumu to break up with Tsubaki. You wanted to cry and shout until he caves in and gives you what you want. You want to feel his arms around you again. You felt sick to your stomach knowing that the same arms that made you feel safe and loved are now around someone who you knew hated your guts. 

“Of course,” Ash smiles. She had no idea how serious your feelings towards Atsumu were. She just wanted to comfort you in the best way that she can. “I’ll pick you up for In-n-Out before we go to the party?”

“Yes, please…I think I’m going to sleep this off now,” you said to her. You didn’t want to show her the pitiful state that you’re in. You hang up after telling her thanks for trying to comfort you. 

You were wide awake for the next hour thinking and overthinking about all the things that Atsumu and Tsubaki could be doing right now. You think about how he’s been a playboy all this time, and cursed at yourself for thinking you were the exception. That he wasn’t going to play  _ you _ out of everyone else. You came to terms with your own heartbreak, that it was ultimately your fault for trusting in Inarizaki’s favorite playboy. You cried yourself to sleep and had to endure a hellish nightmare. One where you were unable to move or wake yourself up, one where you were forced to see Atsumu and Tsubaki’s love story progress more and more. You were drifting farther and farther away from them. 

*ding dong*

You open your eyes slowly, adjusting to the light in your room. You let out a breath of relief upon seeing the familiar walls of your room. You turn over to check your phone. 7 missed calls from Ash and it was already 8:30PM. You hear your dad calling you from downstairs. 

“Ash is here!”

You groaned and got out of bed. You took a good look at yourself in the mirror and noticed how terribly puffy your eyes were from crying for more than an hour. You did your basic makeup and put on a baggy T-shirt and shorts before heading downstairs. Forget doing your hair, you weren’t in the mood to impress anyone. 

“So, Yua,” your dad raises an eyebrow at you as you walk down the stairs. He was seated across from Ash. Ash looked stiff as hell, her eyes begging you to come save her from the awkward situation. “Ash tells me that you’re going to a party tonight.”

“Can I please?” you asked your dad wearily. 

“You just went last week?” Your dad was not happy. “Plus we have to go back on Sunday. Did you even pack yet?”

“Yes, dad.” you snapped at him. You immediately felt bad and mumbled a small apology. 

“Mr. Aoyama, Yua has been uh, really stressed. She really needs to let it out, just for tonight pleeease? I want to take her somewhere one last time before she has to go back.” Ash gives your dad puppy eyes with her hands together.

Your dad looks at Ash, then at you. Eyeing you carefully. You were certain he could tell that you were not okay. The chance of him letting you go was zer-

“Okay.” Your dad sighs. “Be back at 1AM, same as last time. Call Robert if you need a lift. I want to hear a detailed explanation some time between tomorrow and when we get back to Japan.”

You looked at your dad incredulously. You couldn’t believe he just let you go like that. You came over to where he was seated and gave him the biggest and longest hug you’ve ever given him. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” your dad says gently, patting your head. “Now go, you’re not going to have enough time to have fun.” 

“Thank you, papa. I love you.” You didn’t want to let go now. You wanted to stay in his embrace forever. Your dad gave off the same feeling Atsumu does. A strong sense of security in your life, one that you yearned for right now. 

Your dad pats you twice on the back, his signal for you to let go. He gives you a gentle smile. “I’ll be here, don’t worry. Go have fun.” 

And with that, you left the house. For one last party. 

* * *

You cried again in the car with Ash in the parking lot of In-n-Out. Ash hugs you the entire time while listening to you bawl your eyes out and spill your raw emotions. She didn’t say a word, she just kept hugging you. Eventually, you feel a little bit better, after spilling your guts out.

“What should I do?” You sniffled, accepting Ash’s offer to use her emergency makeup for some touch ups.

“About your makeup or Atsumu?” She gracefully rips out two makeup wipes from her togo container and wipes the mascara off of your cheeks.

“Atsumu.”

“I would hate to tell you to steal another woman’s boyfriend but,” she looks at you in the eyes with a devilish smile that was up to no good. “She hardly seems like a good person so I’m sure no one would mind.”

“High morals, I see.” you laugh, your voice all nasally from your stuffy nose.

“Hey, I’m just saying. Why don’t you ask his brother, what’s his name again? Atsomu?” She waves her makeup brush around.

“Osamu.”

“Ok, close enough.” She dismisses her mistake with a wave of her hand. “Just ask him, I’m sure he knows about a lot of things about his brother that you don’t.”

“I’ll try…” you weren’t too confident about digging information out of the tight lipped Miya Osamu.

“Let’s go. You look good now.” Ash flips down the sun visor in front of you and slides open the mirror for you to inspect yourself while she stuffed her makeup into a baggy. 

“Looks good.” 

When you arrived at the party, it seemed like major deja vu. The house was a little different, but you see familiar faces all around. Maybe it was because they were from your old high school or maybe it was because you just saw them last week. All of a sudden you felt the urge to go home, you had a bad feeling about this party. Your view of the house becomes twisted and the sky becomes dark, it was like there was something warning you against going in there. 

“Yua?” Ash touches your arm. You snapped out of your thoughts. “You’re sweating, are you ok?”

“Y-yea, just feeling a little nervous.” you tried to look as okay as possible. You held onto the sleeve of her jacket as she led you inside. As soon as someone saw Ash, she turned on her social filter and told you to wait for her while she went to get you guys some drinks. You didn’t want her to leave, but you also didn’t want to ruin her good mood so you reluctantly agreed. You didn’t move from your spot next to the front door, though. You stood there awkwardly, not feeling the vibe at all. 

“Hey, Yua!” You hear a voice call out to you. “Surprised you’re not outside staring at the moon again.”

You see a familiar face in the sea of strangers. Chris. You felt a bit relieved to see him. You accept his hug and ask him what he’s been up to. 

“Oh, nothing. Just waiting for someone.” He looks out into the crowd. “Hey I think they’re starting the mosh pit, wanna go?”

“Uh, sure,” you follow his lead into the mosh pit and join in half heartedly. You didn’t feel like it, but you were sure you would eventually get into it if you tried hard enough. Chris seemed to be having fun. After spending the entirety of the first song jumping up and down, you felt tired and asked to be excused. You found your way out of the mosh pit and towards the bar that was in the house. You wanted to look around the house for Ash but you also didn’t want to walk into her making out with a guy. 

“Can I just get vodka with some orange juice?” You sighed.

“Sure, it's gonna be $5.” The guy at the bartender says, eyes still glued onto his phone. When he finally decides to look up, he looks at you weird, almost like he was confused at your request. Then it was as if a lightbulb went off in his head. 

“Heyy, you’re Yua, right?” he puts an elbow on the counter and leans in, smirking at you.

“Uh..do I know you?” You instinctively inch back as he moved closer to you.

“Chris told me a lot about you. In fact, usually I would charge people for drinks, but since you know my homeboy Chris, this is gonna be on the house.” He turns around and begins to make your drink.

“Thanks, I guess,” you mumble. You weren’t really comfortable with the fact that even strangers knew who you were but you pay no attention to it since you got yourself a free drink. He’s taking an awfully long time with it though.

“Here ya go,” the bartender turns around with a red cup with your name scribbled on the side in sharpie. “One mixed drink for little miss Yua.” 

You grab the drink and force yourself to give him a smile. “Thanks, bro.”

“Don’t mind it. Anything for my homeboy, Chris.” He winks at you. You laugh awkwardly and hurry on out of the area.

You decide to head out to the backyard to check it out in hopes that you’d have more peace there than inside the stuff house. To your surprise, the backyard was a completely different scene than the interior of the house. Fairy lights, a gazebo, very nice seats, and even a pool. There were a few couples in the pool as well as some people lounging around, but it was quiet. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Ash throwing up in a corner of the yard. You were going to approach her to see if she’s okay, but you notice that she already had other people there checking up on her so you let her be. You find a comfy seat and settle down. You check the time on your phone. 9:50PM. You sighed deeply and closed your eyes, wishing that the night would be over sooner. 

“Whatcha doin out here?” 

You mentally groan at the interruption. It was Chris. Again. It never ceases to amaze you how he manages to find you wherever you go.

“I’m taking a break,” you rest your head on your hand. You didn’t bother breaking your neck to turn around and look him in the face. “My head is hurting a bit.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” You watched as Chris jumped over the back of the seat and slid into the spot next to you. 

“Shouldn’t you be inside? I don’t know, leading the mosh pit or something?” You turn your head slightly to face him.

“Nah, needed to check up on you.” He places an arm on the chair. Coincidentally behind you too. You give his arm a suspicious look but say nothing. 

You two sit in silence for a while. You enjoyed the much needed silence greatly, but you started to notice Chris getting fidgety. You started feeling a little anxious yourself. You wanted to find an excuse to leave. 

“Hey, Imma go check on Ash….” You started to get up.

_ What is happening? _

You felt the world spin beneath your feet. Everything looked twisted in your eyes, as if someone purposely put you in a spinning teacup then added a filter to your vision. You felt yourself lose your balance and began to topple towards the Earth. 

“Oop, there we go,” you heard Chris saying. “Can’t have you falling and hitting your head, now.”

“Chr...is...wha..”

“You look a little drunk,” you felt sturdy arms around your body and realized that he was princess carrying you. Your body has gone limp in his arms, your head resting against his chest. You catch a glimpse of what seemed like a smile on his face. “Wow, I feel like a prince carrying his princess.” 

You felt a gentle kiss on your forehead. You felt the Earth move again, this time, you were certain that it was Chris who was taking you somewhere. You catch snippets of words that surround you. 

“Woah, bro...she...okay?”

“Yea…..sleepy, that’s all.”

“Room…...upstairs…”

You started to panic, you wanted to scream, you wanted to wriggle out of his grasp. You felt his grip on your body tighten, to the point that it began to hurt you. You wanted to reach out and grab the nearest person and scream for help, but you couldn’t move a muscle. You could still think well, this may be due to the adrenaline rush, but your body couldn’t respond to your cries. You felt hands on your body. You felt the cold air of the room on your skin, on places that the cold air didn’t belong. You soon realized that you were helpless, that you were trapped in your own body. Your conscious began to fade away, even as your screams got louder. 

_ Atsumu… _

“Goodnight, princess.”

No one heard you scream that night because it was a twisted fairy tale ending for the sleeping beauty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was the end of season 1 (｡•́︿•̀｡)
> 
> that was really sad wasn't it? It was hard for me to write it, to be honest. 
> 
> Thank you everyone for coming along with me on this wild ride, I'll be back with more soon!! ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡
> 
> Check for updates on Wednesday, May 13th !!


	17. UPDATE(!!!)

(*¯︶¯*)

hello everyone, it's me again.

As promised, I am here to give you an update on what is going to happen to this series. As of right now, the writing process is coming along, but I'm also starting other series. I might cut this one a bit short, since it is my first work + trial run. Although continuing from here on out, it may be shorter than what I originally envisioned, but I'm excited to start new works so,,,, 

For now I'll just be writing Haikyuu related works (AU) 

If I ever get my twitter page together I'll put the link in here so yall can see what the characters look like etc. 

Thanks, always! („• ֊ •„)


	18. Goodnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *WARNING*
> 
> it gets scary

You wonder how many days have passed since the party. You haven’t been yourself since you returned from California. You knew it and so did everyone around you. You don’t speak a word of what happened. You didn’t want to. The clean bedsheets of your familiar bed brush softly against your skin as you turn to your side. The smell of your Japanese home reminded you of better times and you wish with all your heart that what happened in California was just a nightmare. You couldn’t help but have the same nightmare every night. 

_ “Yua! Please, wake up!” _

_ You gripped Ash’s sleeve, pulling on it. You felt hot tears stream down your face uncontrollably, you were screaming at her for help, but what came out of your mouth were mere squeaks.  _

_ “Here, hurry, put on your clothes,” Ash was crying.  _

_ Why is she crying? You thought to yourself. Did he hurt her too? _

_ “We have to go.” she tugs on your shirt and shorts and wipes off your makeup.  _

_ All you could do was nod in agreement. When you tried to stand up, a searing pain shot through your body, starting from the area in between your legs. You cried out, losing the strength in your legs and crumbling to the floor. Ash used all the strength she had to carry you down the stairs and out the door. No one paid attention to the two of you as you left. Ash begged Robert not to tell your dad that you were too drunk. A sad excuse, but Robert complied.  _

_ “We’ll get you home, you’re safe.” she whispered in your ear, holding you tightly for the rest of the ride home. _

_ “I swear I’ll get him back for you.” _

You had asked the coach and the school to give you time off to recollect yourself. You gave a shitty excuse about being too stressed due to family issues. You remembered back to the day after the party. Ash had taken you to her family’s private doctor and forced you to have a check up despite your opposition. 

“It looks like someone cut you up from the inside.” Was what the doctor said. She had given you medicine and suggested that you take time to heal, not only physically, but mentally. She urged you to report him, but you couldn’t. Not for the sake of your own reputation, but for your parent’s relationship. If your mom found out that your dad had let you go to a party and on top of that, got...taken advantage of, she would never look at him again. You couldn’t bear the pain of that, so you were certain that you could withstand this pain instead. 

You had no one to talk to aside from Ash now. You haven’t spoken to Atsumu ever since you saw his picture with Tsubaki. Chris hasn’t texted you at all, he just...ghosted you. You bit your lip till it bled. You felt disgusted, you could still feel his hands on your body on certain nights and that never failed to make you feel like throwing up. 

You spent the rest of your summer locked away in your home. Hundreds of miles away from the man that destroyed your peace. 

A knock on your door woke you up from the trance you’ve trapped yourself in. Your mother gingerly peeks through the door, wearing the same anguished look she’s had on ever since you returned from California. She had racked her brain for nearly a month now trying to figure out what happened to her daughter. Your parents were stumped. You doubt that “I fought with Ash” served as a sound excuse. 

“Miya-kun is downstairs, would you like anything for breakfast?” Her voice was extremely gentle, as if she was afraid that mere words would break your being. 

You got up slowly, your lively energy that used to be a trademark would seem like a lie to anyone seeing the lethargic state that you were in currently. Your body ached as you tugged on your school uniform. Miya-kun? You wonder if it really was Atsumu who finally decided to show up. Dragging yourself downstairs, a gray haired Miya was standing on the threshold of your front door. 

_ Of course. Why would someone who’ve never been there when you needed him show up now?  _ You cursed at yourself for ever having the foolish thought that Atsumu would be reliable. 

“Hey. Wanna walk together?” Osamu has a strange way of comforting people. But it worked. You nod your head in agreement and follow him out the door slowly, promising that you’ll be back soon in response to your mother’s silent worry. 

The walk to school was mainly silence that was disturbed by passing cars or kids playing in the streets. Osamu did not ask or say anything unnecessary. It was as if he knew silent company was what you needed most in the moment. 

“Osamu, how is Atsumu?” You immediately regretted asking him about Atsumu. You haven’t even asked him how he was doing but the first thing that comes out of your mouth was Atsumu. You squeeze out a flustered sorry but Osamu cuts you off. 

“He’s fine. He’s doin’ his own thing.” He felt as if his answer wasn’t what you wanted to hear. “Tsubaki visits the house more now. Atsumu has been busy with dealin’ with that.”

“Oh…” your voice trailed off. Your hands felt awkward and you began fiddling with the hem of your shirt. 

Osamu pats your head. “Don’t worry too much about it. He’s dumb but he can handle it.” He assures you. Osamu had always been the more stoic out of the two of them, but he never fails to pay attention to detail or miss a beat. He felt that you were feeling tension due to the situation and acted immediately to make you feel better, even if it was a little bit. 

“Thank you.”

Once you get to the door of your classroom, he drops you off without a single word.

“Don’t you want to know why I’m like this now?” You asked him after much debate, wondering if the question was too self centered and attention seeking. 

“I don’t want to ask. You’ll tell me by yourself if you’re comfortable.” He shakes his head. 

You focus on a spot on the ground in front of your feet. Looking at him in the eyes might cause you to cry and that was a pitiful sight you didn’t want to subject Osamu to. You thank him for taking you out today and tell him that you’d text him again later. He waves you goodbye before leaving in the direction of his classroom. 

He was right. You wouldn’t have been in the right state of mind if he pressed you to confess all of your problems all of a sudden. You weren’t ever the type of person that strikes others as timid or reserved, but your bright personality seemed like a pipe dream now. A passing dream. 

“Yua-chan, I missed you soo much~!” A familiar voice calls out your name. Tsubaki. “Wow, it’s been so long how are you? Let me tell you about how my summer went with Atsumu.” She added, making sure to emphasize on Atsumu’s name. You weren’t in the mood to deal with her crap so early in the morning. You pushed past her without acknowledging her, which of course, set her face on fire. A bright red hue replacing her usual rosy cheeks. 

“Wha- are you deaf?!” She didn’t want to back down today. Afterall, she had something up her sleeve that you’d never guess. 

“Tsubaki, I’m a little tired today, can I just please get to my seat?” You grumbled with clear irritation in your voice. 

Tsubaki scoffs at your irritation, marking it off as arrogance. She calls her new girl gang over towards where she was standing, adding more obstacles in your way. Her hand digs through her bag, pulling out a stack of what seemed to be printed photos. 

“Look at these. You’re tired? I should be the one saying that, you snake,” she sneers at you, tossing the photos in front of your feet. 

At this point, you were beyond fed up with her increasingly sour attitude with you. But this. This time, your cup was not only full, but spilling over the edges. You had finally snapped. You look down at the array of photos splayed at your feet. They were weird paparazzi photos of you and Atsumu walking down the street of your home. 

You looked back at Tsubaki and her girl gang, who were sure that your blood would drain out of your face and would nearly faint at this confrontation, but oh, lucky them. Your face had nothing but disappointment and disinterest in these poorly taken pictures of you and your friend. 

“So what? What about it? What about these pictures?” You began to walk towards Tsubaki. She’s now the one with the blood drained out of her face. Never in her poor little insignificant time with you has she seen you angry. “Are you mad that your boyfriend likes me more than you? That seems like a personal problem doesn’t it?”

You stopped right in front of her, Tsubaki had backed up into someone else’s desk, causing them to scramble out of the way. 

“H-hey, aren’t you a bit ashamed?” She recovered some sense and tried to stand up on her own two feet. “You’re stealing someone else’s boyfriend in broad daylight, you whore. The whole school already knows, give it up.”

“Like I care,” you brushed past her and to your desk, as promised. “As if your petty games matter.” 

The whole class had fallen into a stupor, a loss for words at what had just transpired between the two most known girls in the school. Only when the teacher arrived did everyone return to their seats, finally snapped out of a trance. You laid your head down on your desk. Tired of everything. Really, really tired. So what if Tsubaki hates you? So what if the class hates you? So what if the school hates you? 

No one can ever hate you more than you hate yourself. 

Ever since that day, you were given strange glances when you passed people in the hallway. When you are in class, no one walks up and strikes up a conversation anymore. They seemed to be afraid of setting off a landmine. How funny. You had quit volleyball club a week ago and the decision was final, regardless of Kita-san’s opposition. You made it very clear that you no longer had a spot on the team and would not be willing to explain yourself to anyone else anytime soon. They don’t know your plans. No one does. Cutting off your ties was only the first and easiest step. Oh? And Atsumu? No, you haven’t spoken to him, nor has he tried to speak to you either. He also had the same eyes that everyone else has when they glanced in your direction. Those same eyes are full of contempt. You were sick of it. And tonight will be the end of it. 

“Hi momma,” you set your bag softly down on the dinner table chair. “How was your date with dad today?” 

She spins around and faces you, face full of happiness. “Oh it was great! Thanks for asking, love. Look what he got me!” 

She hurries and shows you a new Tiffany necklace that your dad had purchased for her as an anniversary gift. It was sparkling and beautiful. Befitting their relationship right now. You knew you would miss this. 

You gave her the brightest smile you could muster before telling her that you felt a little tired from school today and would like to sleep first. 

“Alright, if you get hungry, I made some leftover stew, just pop it in the microwave.” Your mom gives you a long and tight hug. You hug her tightly back. 

“It’s okay. Save it for yourself later. Goodbye, momma.” 

You settle down in your bed, staring at the dark ceiling. You could make out little patterns from the ceiling texture. They looked like stalactites. Or was it stalagmites? You walked over to your desk and turned on the desk lamp. The room lit up. The same way it does everytime you turn on the lamp. Everything is the way it's supposed to be. Everything feels in place. Except for you. You made your bed, arranged your stuffed animals on the bed neatly and cleaned up your room. 

“Perfect.”

You took out the exacto knife you had. You took a deep breath. 

Your fingers felt warm. It was weird seeing your own blood, but at least it was a pretty red. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah well I've been depressedd so I didn't really have the motivation to write much. I got dumped hehee but my pain is free real estate. This chapter was doo doo and I'm still pretty down so I didn't proof read either. But I didn't want to leave it hanging so, haha hanging, so I'm uploading this for the time being.


	19. Author Note

Heya it's Cali, with a heavy heart I would like to inform all of my lovely readers that this series will be on an indefinite hiatus until I get my shit together. I will most likely scrap this entire work and re write it eventually. It's been a tough year, 2020, and an even tougher year, 2021. I don't usually disclose personal information but I live in Texas, and if you guys have been keeping up with the news, we recently been hit with a winter storm that knocked the electricity right off the grid for all of Texas. I personally had no damage to my home and remain safe due to my family's precautions as well as preparations for the winter storm, however not a lot of families were as lucky as mine. Schoolwork has been piled up and pushed back therefore I didn't want to keep you guys waiting for something that might not even come. But I do know that I will write short stories about whatever comes to mind. I've been catching up on Attack on Titan, a series that I have also seemingly neglected (it seems that I choose to neglect a lot of things in my life haha), so you might get some stories with Levi and Eren soon. 

Thank you everyone for reading my stories, it warms my heart. (Oh and I'm def not any type of english major in college I'm a Biology major :) so you can imagine the hell I go through daily.)

TLDR; story-> shot like HxH - peace out I'm drowning in college.


End file.
